3 : " * 9 Ry bis wh 4 X 4 s ; 34 Inches 1 ° 12 13 Centimetres © The Tiffen = \eeegeueaeee® To T. W. WELLINGTON, ESQ., Entered acco di g t t ’ i J e » DY Of J i t b I Cc e ‘Z rdin o Act of Congress n the wrose Unov rusive enevote? i s Ce t , ‘ ence and g nuine § ympathy oO h ar 3 In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts, Che disabled Soldier in the Bospital und the foronged Fugitive Slube Have received many Substantial Tokens, THIS VOLUME is respectfully inscribed. GEO. C. RAND & AVERY, STEREOTYPERS AND PRINTERS. LUNSFORD LANE; ANOTHER HELPER FROM NORTH CAROLINA. BY THE REY. WILLIAM G. HAWKINS, A. M. AUTHOR OF “THE LIFE OF HAWKINS,” BOSTON: CROSBY & NICHOLS, 117 WASHINGTON STREET. 1864. PREFACE. THe volume herewith given to the been prepared at moments snatche ‘fessional duties. public has d from pro- It is hoped that it will not be without some interest to the general reader. The writer is himself a Southerner by birth, but now and for some time resident in the North. He has at different times resided in Virginia and Maryland, and has a personal knowledge of some ot the incidents to which reference j S made in the volume. His acquaintance with Lunsford Lane is quite recent; but, on hearing his story, / e 7 he was able to verify the statements made by him. He has now pert ormed the promise made, that, at some time, he would prepare the present volume for the press, hoping its circulation might be of service to the cause of the oppressed, and, at the same time, be of some benefit to a worthy family who were unwilling exiles from home. The book contains the particulars of a life replete with incident, not of what slavery is under its 1* V VI PREFACE. most revolting features, but of what it is to be a slave, with a sensitive nature, under the most favorable circumstances. ‘The years of servitude were passed at Raleigh, the capital of North Caro- lina. He was himself thirty-two years a slave and spent eighteen years of his life in the pur- chase of himself and family, consisting of a wife and seven children. He acted acceptably for three years, as messenger and waiter under Gov- ernors Dudley and Morehead, and thus made the acquaintance of many members of the Legisla- ture. He is finally compelled to flee with his family from the State, and reside in a climate unsuited to their health. The sketches of South- ern life will be recognized as true by those who have resided in the Southern States. The inci- dents of kidnapping now belong to the docu- mentary history of the country. Several chap- ters are devoted to the changed position into which the colored population are brought by the civil war. One or two chapters give some inci- dents in the organization and equipment of the Fifty-fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Volun- teers, and their eventful history at the seat of war. It is hoped this account, compiled mostly from the press, will be acceptable to the friends of the colored soldier. What the contrabands are doing and what they can do, as soldiers and PREFACE. Vil as citizens, are questions which have received some attention. The subject of the prejudice against the col- ored race is briefly dwelt upon, but not to the extent demanded. The poor white man at the South, as well as a large portion of the people at the North, have much to unlearn upon this sub- ject. It is hoped that this volume, from the plain style in which the narrative is given, may reach many of our colored fellow-citizens; and that the example of industry and of patient endurance of trials, and the integrity of character unfolded in the life of Lunsford Lane, may inspire them to the imitation of virtues, without which they can never secure the respect and sympathy of the good. And may all Christians see, in the revolution that is now proceeding in this land, — in the wide door thrown open for the moral ele- vation and civilization of nearly four millions of the human family, — the very grave responsibili- ties resting upon them. The dreaded cry of “ Abolitionism” will not hereafter be of much power in causing us to withdraw our sympathies and of illustrating in our own land and before an unbelieving world the blessedness of the religion of Jesus. If these toiling and degraded millions can be “comforted,” then “blessed are they that mourn.” If we can secure them life and its VIII PREFACE. blessings, and a portion of our extended territory upon which to labor, then “blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth” And then, in due time the “ peacemakers” shall come, bearing the richest blessings in their hands; while it will be found that they who are “merciful” «shall obtain mercy.” v With politicians we have no controversy ; we have spoken of the subject simply as a part — a transcript — of our social history, the wrongs of which all good people should be ashamed. If this unpretending volume shall be of any use in spreading more light upon a subject daily growing in importance, the writer will feel amply compensated for his labor. To that sweetest of all our poets, J. G. Whittier, whose notes of free- dom are now sounding from the lips of the newly-emancipated “on St. Helena’s Isle,” the writer is indebted for many gems sparkling through the tamest chapters of the volume. ‘To L. Maria Child and others the writer has already acknowledged his obligations in the pages fol- Ww. G m lowing. WORCESTER, September 29, 1863. CONTENTS. CHAPTER TI. Page. His birth, and the early struggles of childhood. a CHAPTER IL. His efforts for securing freedom oe" UV oe 66 6) ep tO 8 6 oe 6 66 6 23 CHAPTER III. Incidents by the way — Journey to Washington, N. C.—A troublesome com- panion— Slavery defended — Condemned out of their own mouths . so OL CHAPTER IV. His master’s death — Continued efforts for freedom — Love of wife and chil- dren — The story of Matt. Harris CHAPTER YV. “J . . . . . ’ . c a | Lunsford as a Christian — His religious teachers — Slavery seeking the aid of revelation— An honest religious teacher rebuking the slave-holder -- Does not bear the light of history CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. Page. His continued prosperity —Negotiates for the purchase of wife and children 8’— The slave-holder on his track —T tions the legislature —F — Dark day he cruel statute — Peti- ails in obtaining mercy— Darker days ..... 81 CHAPTER VII. New trials — Arrested in Baltimore |} y kidnappers—His defence— Trial before Justice Shane — Lawyer Walch—A friend in need— The land- sharks lose their prey — A conversation about matters of fact . eeceee 101 CHAPTER VIII. His mission to the North successful — Proceeds to R aleigh for his family — Is seized— His tria] ~ Honorable discharge — The mob, like hounds, pant for his blood ~ An eventful night— Tar freedom at length reached. € and feathers — The home of Seo eete oe CR CHAPTER IX. Mr. Smith’s pecuniary engagements — Various incidents in a Southern pas- tor’s life— Shooting a slave —A sad funeral— The plantation near Tar- bero’— Improvidence of slay es — Close of I 4uns{ord’s life in the South . 162 CHAPTER X. The 1 ‘escued household on the soil of freedom — Attends the May Saries in New York and Boston — Addresses the — Is well received — Employed anniver- anti-slavery convention as lecturer — Removes to Oberlin, Ohio — Oberlin rescue case, and others - 95°22 . 0.4 2160. ok ® 6: &ee:e CHAPTER XT. Practises the healing art— Dr. Lane’s vegetable pills—His parents join him — Their quiet life at Wrentham — Their de ath — Lunsford’s connec- CONTENTS. XI Page. tion with the colored Baptist Church in Joy Street, Boston — Interesting documents... os Os >. 2. 2 2-6 8: 2 Se 194 CHAPTER XII. The Rebellion of slave-hok fers — Lunsford lectures on the subject — What s] 1all be done with the freedmen ?— The Wellington Hospital —Appointed as steward — Alacrity of colored men to aid the government — Their pol- icy —Mr. Whiting’s letter — The testimony of history on the subject of the employment of negroes in war CHAPTER XIII. The children of Lunsford entering the ranks of the loyal host for Union and freedom— The Fifty-fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Colored Volun- teers — Their organization and departure— Speeches of ( ,OV. Andrew and Col, Shaw — Their eventful history in the field — Their bravery in the conflict — Their patient suffering in the hospitals at Beaufor t— the ques- tion settled, the “‘ negro ” will fight . > 2 2 £60 £ 68.0 6.6.6 66-2 2 oe CHAPTER XIV. The scene changed — Washington, N. C., in 1863 — Enrolment of freedmen — Contrabands, and what to do with them — Dr. Stone’s account — The progress of enlistment — The government makes provision for their sup- port — “ The poor white trash ”— The labors of Gen, Thomas... CHAPTER XV. The contrabands — What to do, and how to employ them— Report of gov- ernment commissioners — Report of emancipation league—A plan for their colonization and support on Roanoke Island— What they have done in Liberia they may do better here — The darky making himself comfortable 68 6 @¢ 6 6 2 wre OSE 68 Pie Ben & 6 6 2) 6 6 6 ee eS eo ee 9 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVI. Prejudice against the African race considered—The New York mob and the sufferings of the negro— Burning of the Colored Orphan Asylum— Notes of personal outrages—Conduct of the British Consul-General— Advice of the great O’Connell. . so C's “24°C ee. 6a eC Cas Ce Ue he 6 CHAPTER XVII. News from the old folks at home — Letter from Memphis, Tenn.— Lunsford at school — Visit of Lafayette to Raleigh— Lunsford noticed by him — Lafayette’s opinions — The lyceum at the Mineral Spring — The negro de- baters — The freedmen at Port Royal, as seen by a writer in the Atlantic Monthly .« 6. Ce eC. © 2 6 Se 6 2 C2. eS eS eS ee U.S. OU. ee eee 280 CHAPTER 4 “ Our fellow 1 Slave Slaves er rm of Freedom's war! 1¢s forth —. —e>e—___ HIS BIRTH, AND THE EARLY STRUGGLES OF CHILDHOOD. 1 il - . if ON a pleasant afternoon in October, a slave completing the day’s lal ‘ . | s labor some hours sooner than usual, his boson antly situated in the entertaining a pleasant eom 7 ne picasant company upon the veranda, “i Which exten C( ‘ anew ] : ~ ‘ : 1 ° ry led along three sides of tue mansion. The slave approaches eanti - : : ; Pproacnes cautiously, and seating himself upol ) 12 oo £9 14 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. one of the steps leading to the veranda. awaits a pause in the happy conversation to introduce his business. Mrs. Haywood was a woman of a churlish vtomperar ment and an avaricious spirit. The slave-man at her feet, her superior in mental and in moral endowments 5 is about to pay her the last instalment of fifty dollars, the wages that his master, before his death, had acreed hal . ry . . . 54 to take as compensation for his services. “Mistress. said the slave, in language entirely free from that almost unintelligible jargon of the more lonorant of his race ‘*T have come to settle the little account which. though . : ’ ] ; ot ho CONSCg UeCNnCe to you, has been tue obie pject of many years of labor and anxiety.”’ “ Then, taking from his vest- pocket a roll of notes, he handed them to his mistress, who as yet sat with her back toward hi but deigned 1limmM, to listen for a moment to his story. ; With a movement almost of hauteur, she reached backward, and taking 1 . } tilyy TAY ) the money, she hastily conveyed it to her purse. ** Mother,” said the daughter who sat near her, in a voice that was caught by the quick ear of the slave, “you promised the children that you would not exact that last payment from Lunsford. You know his faith- fulness has been unsurpassed by any slave that you or pa have ever owned. I don’t think you did right to take it from him.” “ That, child. is a matter in reeard to which I need no dictation from you; you had better give your attention to our friends here.” ‘reed now by the labor of his own hands, an effort of many years, performed during hours of the day and night, when service to his master was not exacted — (in this long period of toil his master died, but being a humane man, BIRTH AND EARLY STRUGGLES. 15 left a wish that his widow should adhere to the promise made the slave) — now emancipated from an illegal nthe ¥ 2 Wis ; ; bondage, Lunsford hastens with joyful steps to the hum- Where his wife and little ones dwell, but cup of enjoyment is mingled with sorrow still; for his wife and children are all slaves. and may be separated in a moment when he dreams not of it. 66 oO " < 23 . - , Martha,” said he as he entered, “I am now a free- as aman can be in this land where laws in Tespect to slaves are so uncertain and partial. I cannot describe to you these queer man, or as free and joyous feelings : 3 none but one who has been a slave can experience such sensations. It seems as though I was in heaven. JT shall sleep none this night ; big thoughts are crowding themselves upon my soul, and I cannot sleep. How strange, too, these images that [ ossess my mind ! — like deep and rich are their waves I am borne up as if on eagles’ sO many rivers of light; as they roll by me. wings. These tears, too, are as rich as the emot ions that call them forth. These are more to me than sleep, ay, more than soft slumber after months of faithful watching by the bedside of a dying friend. him who has assed from spiritual death to life, and hag received witness Within his soul of God’s forgiveness, can possibly have such fecling as mine. It is like the ‘ays of t] «hts . rays of the ighting upon the distant rising sun just ] mountain-top, that open the glories of the None but expanding This breaking the bonds of the slave o him at once the freedom of the e Lunsford heavens. ives to arth and the skies.” Lane, upon whose strange history in his struggles for freedom we are now entering, was a man of BIRTH AND EARLY STRUGGLES. 17 entertaining a hieh Opinion for the slave-man and his accommodating child, so much so that he became their lriend and benefactor. The father, desiring to retain remembrance of go kind a man. named the boy Luns- , , GIES» Sing , : a ge ford. Mid LO OVTAIN If. iS ni Liat Of mei slaves Sherwood Haywood, the owner of this slave fa & Curious origin. . umily, , . . . 2 ] ° a& man of considerable respectability and wealth; : trivial cireymeta,: ie a , se Was yilj brivia Circumstance, Ol from tae nin of he , : he was the owner of —P " my 27294 —_— : : rhial ] 117) P Deo cy OWwlier. ihe lerritory upon wuich the ti PvdiCld ’ three plantations in different parts | To reach them he had to travel some- a { ] CYy { uc otate tands ; oo : aT. yt th tate. stands — but now a city and the ap ti I INorta UU; , : umes seventy-five miles lina — wa; once owned by Joe] TJ he, Wao settied ear : Two of them ‘ 4 : were near, and , and brought with him a number o| slaves: distance r of three miles from his city residence, TT One In tie , | | the child Lunsford Was not that of a field-hand. or his condition would have proved mos t unhappy. His master owned in all lundred and fifty slaves cd ‘stined to know but little of tation, and the hopeless demoralization of unrequited toil. about two . but the child Was the miseries of the plan- The apartment where he first saw the light, and a room in the “ kitchen,” the custom in the South. noj far distant from the creat house. where he spent his youth, was placed, as is Here the servants lodged and Ss and “common doin’s’ aristocrats and lords of the mansion. lived, and here the meal prepared for the Che occasional visits made } tation were were Vv the slave to the plan- sufficient to Inspire a laudable ih retain the comfortable quarters at the mansion. rather Pportunities for acquiring information : anabition to . ral ae ’ > 11. and such was their intellicence and : than share their toil and their degradation. As the marthe =< ; . : ne 3 3 OvJect Of this narrative hew-comer at the mansion had only WOrds OL praise speak of their fitness is to show what slavery is, even under its best leatures, lor the position they e: filled. Among + each so wel ee : ao ol slave-whippings these eLuests was 3 | Mr. Lunsford Lone and tortures and death to recount. 3) 2% there will bé ho horrid scenes TH AND EARLY STRUGGLES. 19 LANE. siave eratify the whims of boys of his own Ae, ature, is sufficient tc ee ee »? tu IS ufficient to ; gal in the extreme. ae | found. too. esses no feature to shield \ LUC} wis narrative. tnat they Xecration of mankind. eee =e . inti Yao A U a5 dil OL leacantiv ac di ASANULY 5 USSU ‘ | I ) Se¢ li a bo yk in Ly land. ¥ re Was ind masters ; ehother sorrow, or rather dread, that took full PUSSES- boy ar Lose of playing sion of my soul. girls, white and colored, in the ations the lrequent selling of slaves, to be the mansion, and oceasion- he far South ; I had witnessed on my master’s plan- onveyed to and the pain of being separated from ler ose who were dear to me rendered me continually ;' ; accomplisn. in the play and ol I knew, too. t] » that others situated similar to lor no crime, had been sold : ; and the fact. too, that I was considered tempt the many Southern cuests offer a large price for me. of being wealthy ; away, 1 had nothi friends were not humerous: by his made them the more dear; and the tinually-inereasine dj from L had eC ‘caped trom the them haunted me even in yin ons : of childhood. conversed with many slave AStCrSs, The labor rice an ¥( lai tati S "G : rcorgia and Alabama; to fifteen was not and th. ee | ne sti uclr Wrongs and exposures added yard in winter, and work- ing’ y happi "] i ? g ny Happiness. ucre was, also, the daily At fifteen, the care } ’ | ° Whilst wunsfor Was entirely nacanainta +4 he alm: s -horses was allotted to him. and Dott, Was entirely unacquainted with the almost oe j : f Hav prevailed it vue more southern States. hy had daily evidences mnorable position of carriage-driver ; rh caped that j is a land of cruel scourcin nhuman laws in the victims 3 and of early deaths. ‘In case any per . i a dhelt wits aaceaa ‘heht toil occupied the days of summer. on shall wilfully cut out F pte eue tonrue, put out the yes cruelly, seal , burn, ‘deprive ai slave of any adilterenee im! \amhar > al ! . his natural id not surpass theirs. to be compell (| as 20 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANR. consciousness that I was not free to consult my own will; but always while I lived I was to be under the con- trol of another; this was another bitter added to my ? . cup of sorrow. Indeed, every circumstance that sur- rounded me made me reeL what J before only dimly saw,—that I was a slave. The thought burned itself into my very soul, and preyed uj on my heart like a never-dying worm. And yet, while I saw. no prospect that my state would ever be changed, I strove to keep self-possessed, and employed my mind planning how I might be FREE. I had no complaints day and night to make of a master’s cruelty. I believe I was highly prized by the family as their slave. I had good cloth- ing and food. I was even made a companion by the younger members; and if they desired any information in regard to the private affairs of their wealthy neigh- bors, I found them always eager for the gossip. On < by the laws of the State in which he lived, as shown in a Manual written by Mr. Haywood, his own master’s relative, itis stated FULLY kill a slave swamps, &c.” » that “Any person may LAW- who has been OUTLAWED for He had frequently heard a who lounged about the running away, lurking in lvertisements read by the white men stores in Raleigh, especially when slaves were ] —such statements as these, - U.) papers :— and for their benefit, taken from the Newbern and Wilmington (N “$200 REWARD! Run away from the subscriber, about three necro man named Ben. years ago, a Also, another negro by the name of Ri rdon, who ran away on the Sth of this month, [ will give $100 reward for each of the or confined in the jail of Lenoir Co. killing of them, so that I can see them. W. D. COBB.” above negroes, to be delivered to me, , or for the — Newle rn Spectator, “$100 will be paid to any person who may Alfred. The same reward will be paid f been killed. He ha apprehend a negro man named or satisfactory evidence of his having > OHE or more scars On one of his hands, cay be en sly 0.7? — Wilmington 2. a Ad sed by his hay ing tvertiser It may seem strange that the southern people would be so unwise as to read laves, and yet we have abundant proof from living wit- nesses of escaped slaves, that such is the fact. such notices to their ” 9) BIRTH AND EARLY STRUGGLES. 21 : . R ae . this subject, Southern house-servants have a fabulous amount of knowledge. The two senses of seeing and hearing in the slave are 1 made doubly Acute by the V ry prohibition of knowled ce, One day, whilst COl- tating in mind how I might obtain my freedom, my macmer gave me a small basket of peaches Is , > 1 . . ° ; > l, YY {* . away trom the ‘kitchen’ I soon disposed of them fo1 thirty cents, which was the first money I ever possessed as My Own in my life, Playing one day with the boys ‘eet, 1 won some marbles, and these I after- ward sold for sixty cents. Shortly afterward, one of my master’s guests from Fayetteville (Mr. Hoge) was ased with my attentions as house-servant, that he "7 bd ) ] aF . me on leaving one dollar. ‘To this, from a similar source, was added another ; and my master’s son, for some favor done him, gave me fifty cents. ‘These sums, though small. appeared large in my estimation ; and hope again revived in my bosom that at some future time, by perseverance and economy, | Henceforth ] longed for inoney, and plans for money-making took cipal might purchase my freedom. | ion OL my thou: upon my od to cut for twenty-five ec nts 9 WIA\YYN 1 orning would receive a reprimand, and at times barely . . , ih i . 1 ‘ > ) . ) escape a Whipping tor the offence. By these continued we : . se I | eHorts I at last accumulated twenty dollars. He now began, as we learn from his statements, to think seriously of buying himself; and cheered by this MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. hope, he went on from one thing to another, lak oring often at “dead of night,” after the long and weary day’s task for his master was completed. By this means he accumulated one hundred dollars. CHAPTER. IT. This sum he kept hid sometimes in one place and siivisLaeitiiandiinks cca sometimes in another. He dared not lend it or place it And sleep not; see him sweating o’er his bread . Before he eats it. "Tis the primal curse, 2 . > > ‘ - 4 oO ec 5 . 2] ° Sl r * soittenc into ercy; on interest, for fear of exciting suspicion Or los he it But softened into mer V3 made the pledge Of cheerful days and nights without a groan.” -_——eoo—. HIS EFFORTS FOR SECURING FREEDOM. K NCOURAGED by past success, he now economizes : nee every moment of his time, rising long before day and retiring late at nicht, that he may add the concealed sum consecrated to tl personal freedom. something to 1e@ purchase of his As yet he dared not speak out, even to his intimate friends. the great thought that burned Within him. As steward and waiter in his master’é house, he is attentive to all his wishes, and eareful in the expenditure of funds placed in his keeping. He was thus intrusted with the purchase of almost every article needed for their daily food. He would meet the pr at their places in t] he would even ora woods, ) by a litt] these were or farmers lone before sunrise, ie market, and make ] ls purchases ; tify the vanity of the family, (the Hay- e display in the manner of his trades ; scnerous; and such as to convey the idea to by-standers that he was acting for the aristocracy of the town. If chickens were wanted, he by*the dozen. until consumed. ordered them These were carefully placed in coops Sometimes he purchased on his own 9 23 a ee EP ES aa heen MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. account when salable articles were offered at low prices; these he stored in cellars of merchants of his acquaintance, and furnished to the families of the town as they were needed. In this way he increased the sum which he knew would be demanded for his free- dom. But his efforts ceased not here. fortunately for him his duties at his master’s mansion were not severe: besides, they admitted of his attendance Ul] things during several hours of the day, when his Ol) er- vices were not needed. These moments he spent in- dustriously at the various stores in town in arranging’ am their goods upon the sidewalk, and in certain labors that could be performed in the morning or eveni Ing without consuming much time. Being famous as a waiter, he was often called upon to attend evening par- ties, and for his valuable services on such occasions he was liberally compensated. At the season of the year when the Legislature was in session was his ereatest harvest. Members having their private rooms at hotels or boarding-houses, were generally waited upon by ser- vants of the wealthy in town who knew how to attend to their wants. Lunsford soon found himself a creat om a © favorite ; and he knew well how to make the best use o f A his time and talents. The members, though not early risers (except when the fox or the deer hunt was on hand), required his services early in the morning. Their boots were to be polished, their clothes brushed, and the early morning bitters mixed and brought to their bedsides. Mr. Lane declares that intemperance O1 among the members at this period was fearful to con- template. lew ever retired at night, among the younger EFFORTS FOR SECURING FREEDOM. members, who were vot in som (| ree intoxicat “dd, ‘ _ . pate B a . a i > and oft n needing the attentions of these faithful slaves to see them safe a he | in bed. Before leavine Raleigh. how- P ] ,° " . > . . . . ad the Satistaction of Witnessing the beneficial ] ' Th< ry. : . : ) the great Temperance Reformation of 1840 ‘pt over the North and the South. y) Lane also lurnished the members of the Lecisla ture with their oe smokine-tobacco. and bad as the habit conlessedly is, he succeeded in obtainine considerable gain trom this little traffic. His father had taught him ‘ ‘yiia f° ny —— > . - . ’ . & mode o preparing the weed in a style which made it quite agreeable to his customers. i ] - 1 - ! ] . As this tobacco trade subsequently assumed consider- ‘ ] " 1? TO) ’ ] j . abl lmMportance In a pecuniary Way, Lt may be well to notice Mr. Lane’s statement in reference to it. He says that this mode of preparing smokine-tobacco was quite new; nothing like it had been sold in Raleigh be- fore. It had the twofold advantage of | baeco a peculiar flavor, and of enablin facture a good article out of fvivine the to- ¢ him to manu- a very indifferent material. He improved, he says, upon the suggestion, and com- menced the manufacture on NNO, as a larger scale. doi i oe o 1 lic . -_ r . usual, all hi WOrk at Ont. lhe tobacco he put into apers of abe arter of ; papers of about a quarter of a pound each and sold ‘Tal C LU ‘ » nts, But as the tobacco could not | Le lout & pipe, and as he imagined he had : grateful, it ‘* occur- truct a pipe as to cool 1) 1 <5 i a . the smok if, and thus meet the Wiel : aft } . : : . . Wisnes of those who are more fond of smoke than heat. This I effected | ane af shots 5 —— were seeewoGl N¥ means of a reed which grows plenti- 8 96 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 7 = P “CATA ] _ ioh the : at rec ade a passage throue fully in that region. | = , : hed a elay- or ee hot wire, polished it, and attached a clay reed with a hot iii sooled in j to the end, so that the smoke should be coo pipe t . ? 1 59% r | . a a ha ta | flowing through the stem | i ese pipes he sold at ten ] oO . would ts apl Ce In the early part of the night he woul cen ‘> < Ue Ai . ; | : : a od ll the tobacco and pipes, and manufacture in the latt SC ALN . i - =~ ’ | = we. rt. His trade in town and with members of the Legi part. s tri | — ’ , S in the lature, made him somewhat famous, not only ‘ . ts if J city, but throughout the State, as a tobacconist. Thus ! 1 : ] wel ly “5? to 1ces Lis oO nron “i was able to make even the vices of the Sout | | ject of his life, — the secur- contribute to the one great object of his life, — the s ing of his personal freedom. —* 7] ing’ ¢ eC siness Perceiving that he was getting on so well in busin 88, , 7 ras about taking a wife. he began, slave as he was, to think about takin: _ ; ; ‘ 1? oO ty é ’ n ) The fearful responsibility of such a step he was not i: late is first advances situation, as yet, to contemplate. His first advan i < A * e _ oe : 7 ; a were made, as he says, to a Miss Lucy Williams, a slave eC , < Ve Cnr \Y wo« W-« - : of ‘Thomas Devereaux, Esq., an eminent lawyer in the ) as . ‘7 1} ] ’ ’ ») < )}9 place; but he was dutiiadi- to fail in the undertaking dic 9 N . ‘ l is first effort, for ; ne he had almos Discouraged in his first effort, for a ti ) At the end of two or three vo 7, = S lau years this resolution gradually grew less controlling, determined never to marry. ey ; REID oil and he set out again in pursuit of a companion to shat ra ys ‘ : P . : ae vas & his joys and sorrows. | ortunately his « = e wai ‘ « - ; : . - 7 P vood one. ‘The bargain between Miss Martha Curti \ . é U0 e " = being ile ins He next and himself was not long in being . c ; me proceeded to her master, Mr. Boylan, and asked him, pie Ce x be a gpa a 2 a i.ccording to the loose custom. if he micnt marry his acc og $94 woman Martha His reply was, “ Yes, if you will be . 7. $¢And «ill adi have yourself.” “I said I would try. And will yo ave herself?’”’ ‘To this also be assented. make her behave herself? Ic EFFORTS FOR SECURING FREEDOM. 27 “The approbation of my master was granted without iff So in May » 1828, he was united as fast in marriage the bonds of well that 4 the will of 4 as any slave can be. He knew could, at any moment, be severed at either mast Tr, the bond not be} ing aws of the South. * Qne year after our mar- riage we were blessed With a daughter, e bond recognized 7 by the i With a son , and at the end of two In the mean time, in accordanee with had passed from the hands of Mr. Boylan into those of my fears, my wife Mr. Benj. B. Smith, a merchant & member and class-leader in the Methodist Gliupeds ind in much repute for his ar lent piety to religion. This I deemed but | Soon found that LT in the sam: and devotion fortunate circumstance 5 we had not touche d his nature . devree, in giving him a ee slave, now my wife, as I h; re observed in her former kind maste ~ Mr. Boylan. Before. she had suf- ficient food and aie t enerous heart to- ward his < Oo render her comfortable now | was compelled to draw from my sources to make up what was deficient. was regarded as a especially his house . Boylan very kind master to all his -Servants slaves , and I seldom heard com- plaints of cruelties inflicted upon his field-hands. J had often been informed that the nearest plantation — ] was a very Overseer knew but little of cruel man, and in one in _ to Whip a man to death ; this case. and it was easy " deat] upon his the others — stance, he had been but no notice was taken to persuade the public that 1 resulted from some other cause. still, it was the choice of my wife to pass into the hands of Mr. Smith, as she had become attached to him in conse- 28 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD quence of belonging to the ing his religious instruction and counsel as he leader, and in consequence of the peculiar devi to the cause of religion for which he was which he alwavs seemed to manifest. But. ; it may seem, as her master, he withheld. both and her children. the needful food and he exacted from them, to the uttermost. al] t] they were able to perform. clothing worn cither by my wife or children, especially every article of much value. ] had to purchase, while the food he furnished the family amounted to less than a meal a day, and that of the coarser kind. remembrance that he ever Pave 1% Il have no is a blanket or any other article of bedding, although it is considered a rule at the South that the master shall furnish each of his slaves with one blanket a year. So that, both as to food and clothing, I had in fact to support both my wile and the children. while he claimed them as his property and received all their labor.’ this narrative will no doubt think it passing how a Christian man could thus impose upon a poor slave, compelling him, in fact. servant. whilst to support his own house- he derived all the value of her labor. Possibly he was aware of her husband’s industry, and his readiness in accumulating money, and yet he was still a slave, and their masters are bound |] lecal and moral obligation to provide for their support. But slavery is demoralizing in VY every its influence upon every class over which it holds its sway. Let the mind once embrace the heresy that the neero is a chattel, to be same chureh, and receiv- he labor Almost every article of EFFORTS FOR SECURING FREEDOM. 29 bought and sold, with no natural inalienable right to is own labor. account for the Whole bl] that have . } 7 ] freedom, to,own | and you may readily ack catalogue of the wrongs been inflicted upon the unoffending race. His wife, although a member of the Which Mr. Smith belonged, prove that she was honest in the affairs of the house- hold. Her mistress gaye out the artic for the table. and watched the food SO closely that she always required that ij should all be returned. When the table was cleared away, the stern old lady would sit by and see that every dish (except the very meagre amount sent into the kitchen) was would turn the ] same church to had not even a chanee to i ‘les to be cooked put away, then she Li * and am aspect lef throughout the land ; and “Gee 2 idati ‘oods Most melancholy inactivity and dilapidation bro Over Cverv . 1° ri - agp eP11LG1C2 Clty and town: and IPNnOrance and pret sit en throned over the minds of the p ople. * Why, Mr. , , 10t the “Xtravagance of these remarks, and had you 1 married : ¥ ’ by Jaquith, you perfectly astonish me by = ‘ ‘er a a Southern lady, you would be in danger of Coat of tar and feathers.” died é > et are =] { | suppose you Yes, madam, the best argumen PI apal d le of replying. Had I time, I could produce abun- ant testimony from Southern statesmen and others, all concurring seg view I have given of the institution. Not many years since, Thomas Marshall stated in the Virginia Le tu tl a : Ss ‘ ) "y ; ef O S to the B S C, li t Lave | lS l Lin ul vy hite Ne) an 1 istri- It retards improvement, roots out an indu °us population, deprives the maker, the Cc ret | ad sound O} banishes the yeomanry of the country, » smi » shoe- Spinner, the weaver, the smith, th¢ 9 99 arpenter of employment and support. mit that Judge Marshall held many very un- ‘nions on the Southerners of With him.” “In the Virginia Convention held not many years ‘Ince, where this wl subject, but you will find few much ability or reputation agreeing ole subject was discussed, many of lest sons did not hesitate to utter the hon- est Convictions of t] cir minds in regard to the ruin Which slavery was bringing upon the land. “The Hon. ¢. F. Mercer there declared —but I will 4 its eral hos pitali ity, Cc eautiful fields. and e temp! dwe Li Y) the self, How much T Does the CY edar ? 1S of 1 rivers, the a have ceased. from their an mountains to f our ancestors and torical flourish ot gratify know the weste rec Oe C Je \ 66 Now. Mr. some of » bles lollowers Ve Can COUNnTrYy. eC Aare march lent he plains. hau Jaquith his We dwell with its stunt how osed in tenantless silence ? of Th traverse their former paths.’ ” it, and has ‘scended Ly, | thoueht of the early lorh and it has d scripti ns of Vireini and I said . \ lost of its i | Its, rayy & politician. | ’ tnat St 7 had most yor ed forests of « GO nkine into ruin, and tl] YS whos Sse doc ITS, once opened by fall desolation cheerful The wolf and wild-dee have deseended they look » you know that who ho chan CTO exn rience i smith. ate is primitive loy ndary LTOW! ve dwell but with m, ene ree ‘eligion si ept on the ba hotes r, no longer on the orar Was of 1oOse Spi LC saddens this iS only the speaking stern Nirginia friends rh part of COMparatiy ettlement elines i 3 nks seared ra] { i} you lou: 5 the hand of ]jb- NM upon their portals or Exe of Once of population from the AVeS of rhe- to S; and you ir ssing and the wealth of lavery,” And I trust madam, in her further settlement and progress she never will. But I will read other opinion of a young and _ rising Statesman. J. Faulkner, who was a member of the Viro; Legislature in 1832, | have the einia Volume here; he AT TT 39 SLAVERY DEFENDED AND CONDEMNED. , harmless the one who believes in the : ; : : ; . MAmMnNnarTaA COlh- US Institution, let him compar slaveholding portion of this barren desolate, and seared as it wer aVenoy} sing hand of Heaven, with have of the descriptions we this country from those who first broke its soil. To What is the change ascribable? Alone to the withering and blast ino effects of slaver YU; to that Vice in the organization of society by which one-half Of its inhabitants are arrayed in oo ao alnst the other half. two States ‘rests and feeling Let me refer the incredulous to of Kentucky and rt No difference f° Ms . a - ay soil, ho diversity ol nal settlement of those CW ren narkable disproportion in i ‘hent, Separated by a river bi climate, no diversity in the origi Oo States, can account for the their national advance- alone. they seem to have purposely and providentially designed to in their future hi results exhibit stories the difference which necessar ily from a country free from the curse of and a country afflicted with it. of Missouri* have one other testimony which ; 1 creat weight slavery, The same may be said and Illinois.” But ] the two States of should certainly have George W; shia {y= Spit in a letter to Sir John Sinclair, s ha 1 eo dition of the speaks of the ex- land in Maryland and Virginia, male Blais in the ntations w Ay CY | : with all sOutHNe} h vicinity of Mount Vernon, where Cre not worth more than five dollars an acr He states that the price of land Pennsylvania * At the time of this present writing, Missouri, havin s passed through a bap- tism of blood, is al bout abolishing slavery, in which Con the “Mount of go sress may 20,000,000. | See Mrs. 2 grant aid to - Maria Child’s tract on the Patriarchal Institution, 40) MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANR. averaged more than twice that amount. fiving as a rear son, that emigrants were attracted thither ‘because there are in Pennsylvania laws for the gradual abolition of slavery, which neithér Maryland nor Virginia have at present ; day of North Carolina’s delive ‘rance must come, and let us pray that it may not come in blood!” At this moment, Lunsford entered and said, “I bee © your pardon, mistress, for interrupting your conversa- tion; but as we are to leave early in the morning on our journey homeward, I came to ask if you have any eg cial orders about preparations for le aving ?” “ No, Lunsford : you have always carried us sa fely through, so far, and I shall leave matters wholly in your acts see that the other servants retire early, and have us all up by five.” Mr. Jaquith, as he looked at Lunsford and saw his fine form, his ease and grace of manner, his intelli- gence, and correct use of language, wlias to himself, This man is out of his place; Nature has endowed him with rare abilities; and as a freeman, with a Northern education, he might rise ee to eminence, and become a deliverer of his race.’”’ Bidding °ood-even- ing to his friends, he wended his w ay homeward, reflect- ing upon the selfishness of human n: iture in che ishing sins certain in the end to defeat the object of life’s bat- tle, — the securing of - happiness. but which nothing is more certain than that they must have, and at a period not remote’ You and I have lived to see slave ry abolished in Pe nnsylvania, and the wealth and enterprise of its citizens far sur- Serr her neighbors, Maryland and Virginia. The THE JOURNEY HOMEWARD. 41 The sun was just creeping over the hills as With the ladies, drove out of the town; the slaves were Just departing from their cabins to the fields to enter Upon ~~ day's labor. As they stopped at the first Watering t-place to rest the horses a moment, they were overtaker by a cousin of the young ladies, who owned a or lonohters farm near Tarboro’. As Mrs. H. and the two daughter: ] TY 14 AT. had "0 gentleman in their party, (though they f lt pel le ‘tly safe j in the hands of their trusty slaves,) Mr. Galt ted upon making one of the party as far as W ilson’s ee ¢ . Oy} MICs tavern, thou: eh this would take him some twenty mi > . | anen { YNt of his way. Mr. Galt had been to Washington to ree OVer a runaw: Ly man-servant., VW hom he found od in prise Ol, aw: iting the owl er’s Ca ull. ry = AN < nat the man was strongly bound, both hands and feet, and tied to the back seat of his dog-wagon ;—— a style % " os ° . . . ’ of their dogs when in the chase. Althoueh Mrs. Haywood did not quite relish the ides ot Mr. Galt and his bound slave in their party i ¥ . " t 7 es , laws . . ‘ , 1y* Upon the publie hi sia their relationship forbade hex Intimati he in his presence n ~» staple his company ; but he had no sooner fallen behind a short distance ates she said, in very decided ti nything but pleasure at their food fortune i ‘rms, in which she was overheard by the ~~ Yants on the box, “I wish Galt and "his runaway had lollowed their own way, and not troubled us with ha; r : . 7 . . ’ thei ~“ompany ; many people will think I have been to Washi hd 99 Neton on the mean errand of slave-catchinge. N O W, M rs 4* - Haywood, who felt so badly in this particular ae a OT STW error nem ston remeanetn ai iinnr siti z pans gre oe a © as alan ET' apie eine! == Her een a me fat a ae eA — ee er aa “s nee msl ined cetera a a= - eee a ect game Ne at a ee 1h Ean ham 42 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. case, would have had no objection, had any slave of hers escaped, to having him brought home under al- most any other circumstances than the present. But as it could not be helped, they conversed as _pleas- antly as their relative positions in the two vehicles would admit. About noon they arrived at a spring by the roadside, which sent up into the bright sunlight its double columns of refreshing water. This was a place famous to travellers and pedestrians, who were in the habit of spreading their repast here, in the shade of the adjacent grove. While Lunsford and the man Jake attended to the horses, the, maid-servants brought out the basket of fried chicken and other inviting refresh- ments and spread them upon the ground. Mr. Galt, leaving his wagon in Lunsford’s care by the roadside, had joined the party, and was busily engaged in doing the honors of the rural board; and so interested had he become in the gossip of his fair cousins that he had for the time forgotten the runaway. Lunsford and Jake, up to this time, had not interchanged a word with the bound negro; and yet the language of the eyes and cer- tain gestures had established very satisfactory relations between them. At intervals the slave was observed bending his head in the direction of his hands and feet, and apparently using his teeth. At last, after no little effort, his hands are freed, and in a moment the cords are loosed ; and with no apparent alarm or perturbation of mind, he quietly steps from the wagon and joins the servants, Lunsford and Jake, who are hidden from the party in the grove by the family carriage. “Mr. Galt,” at length said Mrs. Haywood, “ you INCIDENTS BY THE WAY. 43 hay = is hi ‘ave a troublesome negro there, I suppose ; what is his fault?» Fault ! why, this is the third time the rascal has run aw; ree. ty . . ‘ . h “Way; and it is only nine months since I purchased him j , : eet min W ashington, where, I understand, he has a wife ") 3 . and several] children. I have almost made up my mind hever ; , , ‘ver to buy a married negro again; but, notwithstand- Me that y »V 1 re T I : y the way, I must keep an eye on him, or he will be Up to some trick.” »l intend to teach him to remain in his place. He Stepped into the road, and finding his man untied, and Standing composed by Lunsford and the rest, re- ‘rained the outburst of rage which prudence told him to A "Aca ° ; epress until he had secured his chattel. Approach- Mg them. he said, —— Well, Isaac, whose work is this, — yours or these d—q City 999 negroes ** Massa [ , 1 done it myself; Lunsford nor none of the didn’t do nuffin ’bout it.’’ The res heero was a powerful fellow, and appeared com- NeTAIlw “ . F . . . pletely self-possessed ; but there was a meaning in his look whic off; ? h seemed to say, “ You must keep your hands besides, a dense wood was on either side of the , and in an instant he could elude pursuit. ‘Now, Isaac, I regret that I am compelled to treat rou. j IS Way : J in this way, and I want you to promise me that yOu will behave Work,” road. yourself in future, and return to your “I have alw be al the ays done my work, massa; but I must to see my wife and children sometimes, and OV@erseer coc. . } : seer says I shall not. I only want to go once a 10nt 7? lowe d i ty pg ae reat om = = > ~S. SS a mene ~~ = 8 -- See ove ears oon eae See eea Pine TTT te Aa aA Aon ce 44 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. $5 ‘Well, what are you coing to do now ? “YT am going back to Washineton” (some twenty miles distant) “and see how my family is; for the officers coteched me jus’ as Il git in town, and lock me in de prison.” “* Well,” said his master, “it is now Wednesday; and I will give you until Monday morning to sce them return to the plantation; you must be there in season to go into the field with the other hands.” Isaac escapes upon much easier terms than he had expected ; and yet this involved a journey aloot of over fifty miles, — twenty to Washington and thirty to his master’s, —a part to be performed on Sunday, during the shades of the night; and yet he left, or was about to do so, in a very happy state of mind. ‘¢ Mr. Galt,” said Miss Haywood, who had now joined them in the road, “ you have lorgotten that your man needs something to eat with such a journey before him; let the servants brine run, Jane, and get him some meat and ‘Well, cousin, since you wish it; but really, the scamp deserves to find his own food, since he has vol- untarily left the quarters I have provided him.” Mr. Galt, finding a long afternoon’s ride before him, determined to leave his cousins at this point, and, jump- ing into his wagon, he bade them gvood-by, and turned off by a cross-road to his plantation near Tarboro’. Lunsford and the party reached ‘** Wilson’s” as the sun was sinking behind the distant hills. pleased to ac- cept of the poor accommodations of this poverty-stricken . inn-keeper. The relaxation from their confined posi- INCIDENTS BY THE WAY. 45 tion in the carriage was refreshing indeed; and the *ccommodating landlord brought out chairs, — rude Mes, it is rudinesiand placed them upon the rickety Veranda. The cooling breeze was refreshing to the Weary travellers, and the limpid stream that meandered Sently by seemed almost to incite them to slake their thirst at its edge. (J The lingering sunbeams were just leaving a golden tinge in the sky. 4 ns . . . tee 59 - . “What a delightful evening, mother, said one of the daughters; this is what I love,— ‘T love the balmy air of eve, With dewy tears and zephyr sighs}; It doth the ruffled wind relieve, “ie aiid And soothes the spirit ere it flies. y shirpinge ¢ oe) ilti- I love, too, the humming and chirping of these mui ‘udinous insects in the wood. Their time comes when the busy works of man have ceased, and slumber closes b irpl ;coms 3 sleep their chirping seems to put me to leey ‘Mmediately.”? 2 ae ; 2 ™ > s ~~ . : ig i “Lunsford”? said Mrs. H., when he return d from 3 al . : : . . . y. Fr the stable, “we must be off early in the morning. I am Mr. might CX] anxious to reach home early in the afternoon, or Haywood will be uneasy; I wrote him that he ect us early.” “ Yes, mistress, I think you may rely upon me.” *y three in the afternoon of the following day, the Carriage of the Havywoods was rattling its way over the Tough pavements of Raleigh ; and Lunsford landed his Charge in safety at the open door of the mansion, into Which Mr. H. welcomed his returning family. A TT TTY ET TTI ee CHAPTER IV. “* Slavery’s a thing thet depends on complexion, It’s God’s law thet fetters on black skins don’t chafe; Ef brains wus to settle it (horrid reflection!) Wich of our onnable body’d be safe?’ Sez John C. Calhoun, sez he, Sez Mister Hannegan Afore he began agin, * Thet exception is quite oppertoon,’ sez he.” See Debate in U. 8, Senate. “ hile ve may. v Hold, while ye may, your struggling slaves, and burden God’s free air With woman's shriek beneath the lash, and manhood’s wild despair; Cling closer to the ‘ cleaving curse,’ that writes upon your plains The blasting of Almighty wrath against a land of chains.” sensing HIS MASTER’S DEATH—CONTINUED EFFORTS FOR FREEDOM— = E OF WIFE AND CHILDREN—THE STORY OF MATT. HAR- N event now occurred which cast great gloom over the prospects of many of his fellow-slayes, Their master died. Mr. Lane and the numerous reti- nue of men-servants and women-servants in the house- hold and upon the plantations felt a degree of security in their position, and in their social relations while Mr. Haywood lived. Many of them had families, and some a numerous offspring. Being in repute a man of great wealth and of kind disposition, 4hey had little fear of those heart-rending separations from home and kindred that they had observed upon many of the neighboring plantations. They never dreamed that his sudden death might change every pleasing prospect and put out in darkness the brightest hopes of life, 46 AT HIS MASTER’S DEATH. His widow, by his will, became the sole executrix of his roperty. To the surprise of all, the bank, of large which he had been cashier for many years, presented a , > ct ) claim against the estate of forty thousand dollars. dy 4, compromise, the particulars of which it Is unneces A sary to mention, this sum was reduced to twenty thou- sand dollars. To meet this, several plantations, together with all their live stock of men and cattle, had to be sold. Some of her best and most trusty slaves were hired out. To Lunsford’s great joy, he succeeded in hiring his own time from his mistress, for which he acreed to pay a price varying from one hundred to one hundred and twenty dollars per annum. This was indeed a privilege which comparatively few slaves at the South enjoy, inasmuch as it 1s In violation of the laws of the State,—a slave having no legal richt to make a contract of this kind which would be binding. In Raleigh, it was sometimes winked at. ‘1 savs he, ‘one slave man who was doing well l taken up by the public public good, three knew, for himself and for his master, authorities and hired out for the > Tt was found that the example times in succession. slaves, making them rest- was injurious upon the other less and discontented, —this being a quasi freedom stimulates to great industry, and often Inspires higher hopes. In many cases, however, if the slave is orderly, vives no intimation of insubordination, and ay ‘ < E ; 1 : , Salen | . YP. he MAKING NOTHING, neither he nor the master 1s intel le me too ypears to i fered with. ‘This relation to my mistress mac happy to think of betraying the confidence now reposed in me. 48 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. “JT now commenced business for myself, and entered upon the manufacture of pipes and tobacco upon a large scale. I opened a regular place of business, —a humble one, it is true, —and I labelled my tobacco in a conspicuoys manner, attaching the names of the propri- etors, ‘EDWARD AND LUNSFORD LANE’ We (my father being in the business with me) pushed the enterprise so far as to establish agencies for the sale in various parts of the State; one at Fayetteville, one at Salisbury, and one at Chapel Hill; the latter place being the seat of the University of North Carolina and of other minor institutions made the place one of con- siderable importance for the slaves who were ambitious enough to supply the students and the town’s people with their homely productions, and receive their pocket- money in exchange.” The Lanes managed to get their full share, but it is questionable whether the equivalent returned in to- bacco and pipes was not greatly to the detriment of the rising generation. The influence of Father Trask had not as yet extended so far as Raleigh, and his tracts on this important sub- to the mass of the benighted of both colors. He sold these articles ject would have been but “ dead letters also at his own unpretending shop, and about town, and also deposited them in stores on commission. “Thus, after paying my mistress*what was considered the full value of my time, and rendering such support as was necessary to my family, I found in the space of some six or eight years I had collected the sum of one thousand dollars; and this was in addition to paying CONTINUED EFFORTS FOR FREEDOM. my mistress over one thousand dollars. as stated in the first chapter, for the privilege ol f laboring for myself, to which God and nature had already given me an inalien- able right. Fearful that the accumulation of so much money might prove disastrous to my hop yes, should it be known, I deemed it politic, during all this time, to go shabbily dressed, at s to appear as poor as poss ble, but to pay my mistress for my se rvices promptly. My funds I kept hid, never venturing to lend or invest a penny in anything like ly to create suspicion ; nor did I let any one but my wife know that lL was making any. 6 Supposing that one thousand dollars was about the amount my mistress would ask for my freedom, . deter- mined what course to pursue. Going to her asked her price, provided | should desire my fre She said she would be satisfied with one thousand dol- ei [ then frankly told her I greatly desired my tree- dom, and asked if she was ready to execute the deed, provided | could find some person whom | could trust, by whom the purchi se in my behalf could be made.”’ The reader should remember that no slave has the right, according to Southern laws, to make such a con- tract, not even to purchase himself. Even the money he had accumulated through those long years of toil belonged to his mistress, and had she been bad enough, she could have compelled him, by law, to transfer all hi possessions _while a slave, to her hands. ‘I had kn ‘nstances of slaves who had paid a portion of money demanded for their freedom, and had yet been A covetous cruelly retained in servitude. My mustress, as she was of money, thought too muci h of her reputa- . v 50 MEMOIR GF LUNSFORD LANE. tion for good breeding to be guilty of so base a piece of injustice. “One instance of this kind occurred in Raleigh which made a deep impression on me at the time. ‘An intelligent and active man-servant, belonging to a neighbor of my master, who bore not the best reputa- tion for honesty in his business relations, was offered his freedom by the payment of eight hundred dollars. He set himself industriously to work ; hired his time; went to Chapel Hill; opened a little shop, and after several years of hard toil laid by four hundred dollars, which he took to his master and paid as the first in- stalment, — one-half of the purchase money. After receiving the money, he informed his slave that he had changed his mind as to his value and the amount to be paid, demanding, as a condition of his freedom, eight hundred dollars, making twelve hundred! The utter hopelessness of his condition at first almost crushed him; finally, the feeling of the unmitigated wrong which he had suffered aroused him to renewed efforts to secure his freedom at all hazards. He procured from his master a pass to trade in different portions of the State and in Virginia; the cupidity of his master induced him to grant it readily; by a series of skilful manceuvres he succeeded in travelling not only through North Carolina and Virginia, but into the Free States; and I had the pleasure several years after of taking is rt him by the hand in the streets of Boston. By the ouldance of a kind Providence I was more successful in my present effort, but it was not accomplished with- out difficulty. 1 found in my wife’s master, Mr. Smith, CONTINUED EFFORTS FOR FRECDOM. a man whom 1 could trust. Upon consulting with Mr. Smith. I determined to give him my money, intrusting him with the negotiation with my mistress ; it was de- termined best. that he should purchase my freedom, holding me nominally as his slave until I could be formally and legally emancipated. The laws forbade emancipation, except in one case, i. e. ‘ meritorious conduct,’ and as I could not claim the benefit of this exception the effort was fruitless. I made personal appli- cation to the court, but it was judged that 1 had done nothing ‘ meritorious ;’ and thus 1 remained the slave of Mr. Smith for one year, when, feeling unsafe in that relation, I accompanied him to New York, whither he was going to purchase eoods, and there I was legally and in due form made a FREEMAN, and there my manumission is recorded. I returned with Mr. Smith to Raleigh, where I hoped to live in peace in the society of my family and friends, and to care for my little ecnealenld as a freeman should. JI had known in mental agony, that I cannot describe, what it was to be a slave, and I was in a condition to know what it was to be FREE.” The change in the condition of Mr. Lane, from that of former privations, was indeed great; the long season of toil and waiting issued at last into an exuberant joy: Though the road he had trodden was not so thorny as that of many of his fellow-slaves, yet he felt himself most happy at escaping the possibilities of his situation. In speaking of this portion of his life, he declares to the present writer, ‘I do not desire to dwell upon its Eo . OL MiMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE, J a » dark fe; ‘es. b ; l features. but upon those portions of my path where the light of God’s ¢ sahil : i x0d’s good providence was permitted to > stream. His goodness had followed me from infancy: and at leneth I was conducted quite out of the abyss at bondage. Cowper’s beautiful words seemed wall suited to express my feelings as I turned my eyes upon the past : — ‘Ww ; When all thy mercies, O my God, My rising soul.surveys, m . 4 Transported with the view, I’m lost In wonder, love, and praise.’ I had endured what a freeman of the North would lave calle ar sace : r have called hard usage; but my lot upon the whole had been a favored one asa slave. It is known that ra me 2 7 a 1? or a > 7 - . there is a wide difference in the situations of what are OyT’vy ) } 7 ee - myryory ‘ ‘ ] 45 termed house-servants and plantation-hands. I, thouch sometimes employed upon the plantation, belonged to the former, which is the favored class. My master was esteemed a kind and humane man, and in almost every respect I fared differently from the many poor slaves whose sorrows in life I knew well, some af them i lessly confined to the plantation, with not enough food and that little of the coarsest kind, insufficient a satisfy the gnawing of hunger; compelled oftentimes to steal away in the night season, when worn down with excessive labor, and appropriate such things as they could lay their hands upon, and privately devour them in their cabins; made to feel the rigors of bond- age with no cessation; torn away sometimes from the few friends whom they dared to love, friends doubly . LOVE OF WIFE AND CHILDREN. 53 dear because they were few; at times transported to a climate where, in a few years they die, and then borne without ceremony, and with few mourners, to their last resting-place beneath the sod, the burial-place being a corner of a field upon the master’s plantation, which before many years will be ploughed and sown and reaped as other acres. It is true, at times, in the cool evening, and even during the hours of toil, the air is enlivened by a merriment which, even in its rude style, serves to mitigate the sorrows of their lot. Such I knew to be the fate of plantation slaves generally, but such was not mine, and I thanked God and took courage. My way was comparatively far happier, and, what is better, led to freedom. God had given me great powers of endurance and a disposition to labor. My wife and children were still with me, and to live for them was a pleasure. After my master’s death, my mistress, it is true, sold a number of her slaves from their families and friends, but not me. Children were torn from their parents, but mine were with me still. Two husbands had been sold from their wives, but I was still unvisited with this sorrow. One wife was sold from her husband, but mine was still left to comfort me. With me, and in my humble home, the tender tondrils of the heart still clung to where they had entwined, —like the pleasant vine that clung about the entrance to our cabin, its shade and its fruits were delicious to our taste. Still we knew and we felt that we were slaves, and did not venture to peer into the future.” The compiler of this biography, having been born in 5* MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. the South and well acquainted with the institution of slavery, and the many circumstances which lead to the separation of families, can well account for the undis- turbed relation of Lunsford Lane in this respect. It is true that the strong attachment to home and family he evinced does not pertain to a majority of the slaves, though the institution is responsible for all this. Where families are to be separated due consideration is made in regard to those where this family attachment is not strong; these may be sold first. In this respect there is a fearful laxity of morals, the immeditte result of slavery. And yet thousands are governed by very high and pure motives and attachments, and when the master can, he hesitates to sever ties of so sacred a kind. But in many instances even humane masters have no control over their property, and in more in- stances the barbarism of slavery has crushed in their hearts the emotions of humanity. The writer, who has quite an extensive acquaintance in some of the Southern States, is convinced, allowing for the difference in social condition and education, that the attachment and strength of moral obligation exhibited in ‘the colored race, free and slave, are as strong as they are to be found anywhere. < In instances where the tie is uncommonly strong, and an attempt is made to separate the family, we have wit- nessed the most heroic efforts, on the part of slaves, to prevent the occurrence of so dreadful an event. The history of Lunsford Lane and of others could be ad- duced. ‘The following narrative ha recently been published, LOVE OF WIFE AND CHILDREN. and as the writer was personally conversan + ot ) ;, the reader may rely upon their enth It was communicated to a iri ade of Mobile.* “A few days ago, I happened to be talking with —— ] ——. who, though absolutely loyal, is a born Kentuck- ‘an. and a firm believer in the blessings of the ‘ pecul- ‘ar institution.? He was telling me how, on many of the large plantations, chaplains were employed to at- tend to the spiritual condition of the hands. «“« Still” said I, ‘they would like to have a right to , their own children, | suppose. “¢Qh.’ he answered, ‘you refer to the separation of families. Now I can tell you that I never knew that to be done, unless the person sold had been convicted of some crime which would send him to a common jail. Ten years ago, when my uncle propo: ed to move to Missouri, many of his male slaves had wives owned on adjoining plantations. He said to them that if they could find some one to give a nominal *price for them, he should be glad to have them; to which they an- swered that they did not wish to leave him. “ But what will you do about your wives!” he asked ; and they answered, “ Oh, never mind dem; find plenty more out dar.’ So you will find it,’ said ——; ‘they do not think so much of these things as we do.’ “¢You did not find it so with Matt. Harris, I an- swered. * See the Weekly Massachusetts Spy for July, 1560. MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. “ < knew that we should not send him back, or misuse XA ‘ C , = 4 : at if eEEEYS him? He said that about three months before, Jesse i s +. _ ‘el! aftar etavine } bad come out in the same manner, and after staylag In it 4 - the fleet some time, had suddenly disappeared after the vessel went to Pensacola for coal. Suddenly he ee peared in Mobile among his friends, with a most doleful story of his sufferings. He had been beaten, eats, nearly drowned, and was glad to get back with his life. Jesse’s story was published in the papers around Mo- bile. and Jesse himself went on a kind of missionary tour among the discontented of his people, to tell them what he had suffered. But when he could choose his audience, he told his people that he was pertoetty well used, and when he could manage to get his press away he would go again, and ‘not come back no mo’. 7 “The first accurate information in regard to the river defences and obstructions came from Matt. Harris. The number of guns, rams, gunboats, the mina een, draught of water, fighting capacity of the latter two, the water in the various channels, the name, stowage, capac- ‘ty. and rate of sailing of different blockade runners, ‘he names of different vessels which have been in Mo- bile in years past,—on all these subjects he has an- swered hundreds of questions, put In many cases by rith the facts, < unae- persons who were acquainted with the facts, und w ious to prove him unreliable, in a manner so straight- | | . ] ‘ ‘ Tis ver siti i ‘easonable, that 1 have neve forward, unhesitating, and reasonable, t ; . oO fa : ‘ 7 a) ne & Pe heard any man pretend to doubt his perfect accuracy 58 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANR. Above all, he has the rare grace of not pretending to know what he does not; and it has often amused me to see with what delightful firmness he refuses to infer anything that he does not know. Toward the last of April we went to Pensacola for coal, passing, on our way up, a burning blockade-runner, near the entrance of Perdido River, about ten miles west of Pensacola Light. “The first day after our arrival, all hands had liberty to take a run ashore; and at nicht all were present or accounted for except Matt. The last that was seen of him was about noon, when he was sitting on a log talk- ing with one of his color, who lives at Warrenton. I kept hoping, up to the last moment. that he would re- turn and justify the good opinion that was formed of him; but at the end of three days we went back to the fleet, and Matt. was reported as a deserter. Now cop- perheadism was jubilant. Never a man among them but was sure of his being a spy, who had come out with such a story as the rebels instructed him to tell. and now had gone back with accurate news from the flect and the navy yard. “ noiselessly crept to the shore, and taking the horse of the man, rode rapidly toward Mobile. ( Theft, Matt !) He rode until morning, and then turning his horse loose, took to the woods again. In the course of the day he saw, in a muddy place, dog-tracks, a common thing enough, but to him it meant blood-hounds., pur- suit, capture, perhaps death. Most of that day was wh 4 - aah Tg s om titan « . : : spent without walking; much of the time standing in running water. At night he managed to find out in THE ST > MATT. HARRIS. 61 what direction the dogs would run the next day, and then took the trail again. ‘Thus he was five days going the forty miles between Pensacola and Mobile, arriving on Friday night. He immediately communicated with his wife (the only per- son who saw him, except the boy who told him about the dogs), and made arrangements to start on the next Tuesday night. The days of the intervening time were spent in the marshes opposite the city, and the nights with his wife in the city. Tuesday night, at half-past ten, they dropped down the current, and from that time they slowly worked their way down the river at night, lying concealed in the day-time. They lived, during the time, upon bread that they had bought be- fore starting, and upon cold boiled chicken which she ad laid’iuk Three times, as the day came on, and they sought a place of refuge, he took her on his back and bore her through the water to the land. And after all, this poor woman, well advanced in pregnancy, took an oar and helped her husband in his last struggle for liberty. ‘¢ Matt. is now about this ship. Hardly a day passes ‘n which our captain does not call him from his work to cet some advice in relation to the harbor; and J often think his conduct, Kentuckian born as he is, puts some of us Free-State men to the blush. The wife and baby are at Pensacola, comfortably settled, and this little family seem at last to have begun to live. Matt.’s term of service expires with the commission of the ship (he has been offered and has refused his discharge 6 62 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. from the commodore since his return), and if he remains by her until she comes North, I will try and bring him to Worcester, that you may judge whether he is a trust- worthy man.” CHAPTER V. “ What, ho! our countrymen in chains! The whip on woman's shrinking flesh! Our soil yet reddening with stains, Caught from her scourging, warm and fresh! What! mothers from their children riven! What! God’s own image bought and sold! AMERICANS to market driven, And bartered as the brute for gold! .* ° on Shall every flap of England's flag Proclaim that all around are free, From “farthest Ind.” to each blue crag That beetles o’er the Western sea ? And shall we scoff at Europe's kings, When freedom’s fire is dim with us, And round our country’s altar clings The damning shade of Slavery’s Chains?” pao a LUNSEORD AS A CHRISTIAN—HIS RELIGIOUS TEACHERS—SLA- VERY SEEKING THE AID OF REVELATION—AN HONEST RELIG- IOUS TEACHER REBUKING THE SLAVEHOLDER—DOES NOT BEAR THE LIGUT OF HISTORY. bee far but little has been said of Lunsford’s relig- ious character. It will be seen that he was a man ofa deeply religious nature ; his piety was ardent and sincere, but he had to encounter many things which in a person of weaker mind and less natural reverence for holy things, would have made him reckless and defiant of all efforts at his improvement. In religious matters he chose to be free, and nobly did he vindicate in his life the religion of his Saviour, in his efforts to impress the precepts of the Bible upon his brethren in bonds. He had never in his youth been permitted to learn to read, but the halit of close attention to all he heard and a 63 a rs 64 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. wonderfully retentive memory enabled him to lay up a valuable store of learning. He had a ready and easy way of conveying his thoughts to others, and soon became a recognized leader in the religious meetings of the slaves and the free colored people of Ri: ‘. I-ance 4 s » . > Speaking of these early opportunities of improvement, he says, ‘“T was permitted to attend ty church, and this I esteemed a ‘great blessing; it was there I received much instruction, which I trust was of great benefit to me. I trusted, too, that 1 had experi- sxnced the renewing influences of divine grace; I looked upon myself as a great sinner before God, and upon the doctrine of the great atonement through the suffering and death of the Saviour as the source of continual joy to my heart. After obtaining from my mistress a written permit, a thing always required in such cases, [ had been baptized, and received into fellowship with the Baptist denomination. Thus in religious matters, ] had been indulged in the exercise of my own conscience ; this was a favor not always granted to slaves. There was one hard doctrine, to which we, as slaves, were fre- quently compelled to listen, which I found difficult to receive. We were often told by the minister how much we owed to God in bringing us over from the benighted shores of Africa, and permitting us to listen to the sound of the oO pel. In lonoral e of any special revelation that God had made to master, or to his ances- tors, that my ancestors should be. stolen and enslaved on the soil of America, to accomplish their salvation, lL was slow to believe all that my teacher enjoined on this subject. How surprising, then, this high moral end HIS RELIGIOUS TEACHERS. 65 being accomplished, that no proclamation of emancipa- tion had before this been made! Many of us were as highly civilized as some of our masters, and as to piety, in many instances their superiors. “‘T was rather disposed to believe that God had origi- nally granted me temporal freedom, which wicked men had forcibly taken from me,— which now I had been compelled to purchase‘at great cost. ‘7 often heard select portions of the Scriptures read ‘n our social meetings and comments made upon them. On Sunday we always had one sermon prepared expressly for the colored people, which it was eenerally my privi- leve to hear. So great was the similarity of the texts that they were always fresh in my mem@ry : ‘ Servants, be obedient to your masters ? —‘ not with eye-service, > ¢Pfe that knoweth his master’s will as men-pleasers. and doeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes ; and some others of this class. Similar passages, with but few exceptions, formed the basis of most of these public instructions. The first commandment was to obey our masters, and the second like unto it: labor as faithfully when they or the overseers were not watch- ing, as when they were. [ will not do them the injustice to say that connected with these instructions there was not mingled much that was excellent. “There was one very kind-hearted clergyman whom | used often to hear ; he was very popular with the colored people. But after he had preached a sermon to us in which he argued from the Bible that it was the will of Heaven from all eternity that we should be slaves, and our masters be our owners, many of us left him, consid- 6* 66 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. ering, like the doubting disciple of old, ‘ This is a hard saying, who can hear it ?’”’ This whole argument of the divine right to enslave the African race has been so often refuted, and is so much opposed td the instincts of our nature, and to the fundamental rights of every human being, that we do < - not feel it necessary to consume much of the reader’s time in its discussion. It may be well, perhaps, to refer to some very judicious remarks made upon this subject by an honored son of North Carolina, who was at one time professor in the University of the State, at Chapel Hill, Holding sentiments on the subject of slavery which could not be tolerated, he secured his personal safety by removing from the State. His work on the Impending Crisis, by its very large circulation, has done much toward arousing the people to consider the stupen- 3 dous wrong and infamy of slavery. ‘“ Every person,’ he observes, ‘‘ who has read the Bible, and who has a proper understanding of its leading moral precepts, feels in his own conscience, that it is the only original and complete anti-slavery text-book. In a crude state of society, —in a barbarous age, when men were in a manner destitute of wholesome laws, either human or divine, —it is possible that a mild form of slavery may have been tolerated, and even regarded as an institution clothed with the importance of temporary recognition. jut the Deity never approved it, and, for the very * e e e *) > ° reason that it is impossible for him to do wrong, he 0) never will, he never can approve. it.”’ The worst system of servitude of which we have any account in the Bible—and, by the way, it furnishes no SLAVERY AND REVELATION. 67 account of anything so bad as slavery —was far less rigorous and atrocious than that now established in the Southern States of this confederacy. Even that system, however, the worst which seems to have been practised to a considerable extent. by those ancient patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was one of the monstrous inventions of Satan, that God winked at, and to the mind of the biblical scholar nothing can be more evi- dent than that he determined of old that it should in due time be abolished. To say that the Bible sanctions slavery is to say that the sun loves darkness ; to say that one man was created to domineer over another is to call in question the jus- tice, mercy, and goodness of God. We will now listen to a limited number of the pre- cepts and sayings of the Old Testament : — *‘ Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof! ”’ ‘“‘ Let the oppressed go free!” ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty, but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbor.” ‘The wages of him that is hired shall not abide with 99 thee all night until the morning.’ ie oO ‘‘nvy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.’ “Execute judgment and justice, take away your ex- action from my people, saith the Lord God.” ‘Do justice to the afflicted and needy, rid them out of the hand of the wicked.” MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. “Therefore, thus saith the Lord, Ye have not hearkened unto me in proclaiming liberty every one to his brother, every man to his neighbor. Behold. ] pro- claim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, to the famine, and I will make you to be renowned in all the kingdoms of the earth.” *‘ He that stealeth a man and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.” ‘““Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall ery, and shall not be heard.” “He that oppresseth the poor, reproacheth his Maker.” “YT will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages. the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the tranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord ew precepts and sayings from the New Testament : — “Call no man master, neither be ye called master.” “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them.”’ “Be kindly affectionate one to another with broth- erly love ; in honor preferring one another.” ‘Do good to all men as ye have opportunity.” “If thou mayest be made free, use it rather.” ¢ TM 1 : “he iF 59 er is worthy of his hire. Be , : ; But to return to our narrative. Bes 10Uus privileges enjoyed by Lunsford. h : Lad some dear friends among the better informed and religious AN HONEST RELIGIOUS TEACHER. 69 of Raleigh, who were looking with interest at his stiug- rles to release himself from bondage. Some even went o that the > so far as to offer him words of cheer, hopin time would come when his wife and children might enjoy the same blessings. The Rev. Dr. Heath, of the Presbyterian Church, he found a true friend to the col- ored race. Himself originally from Virginia, where he once owned a large number of slaves, as a humane man he sought to free them; but as this could not be effected, owing to legal difficulties, he colonized them in Africa, furnishing them with a liberal outfit. This divine, who afterwards is known through the Northern States as one of the most eloquent of all the advocates of the temperance reform, we shall notice particularly. At the time of which we are speaking, he was just be- cinning to rise into public favor by his pulpit elo- quence. He had several years before abandoned his calling as planter for the sacred office of the ministry. He was called to the pastorate of the First Presbyterian Church in Raleigh, chiefly on the ground of his faith- fulness and eloquence as.a divine. He had a well-edu- cated congregation, but most of them were slave-hold- ers. His having freed his own slaves was a suspicious circumstance to those who were disposed to find fault with his close sermons to masters, for he was a bold man, and did not hesitate to reprimand any injustice practised by the master. toward his slaves. He was free to express his views to some of his parishioners that slavery was demoralizing in its influence, and the re- sponsibility of its continuance was fearfully great. His personal efforts at elevating the race he evinced by re- 70 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. taining two men-servants in his household as waiter and driver. Lunsford had often seen these men sitting in the study of Dr. Heath, perusing his books, and thus cultivating their minds and securing useful knowledge. These men had been emancipated, and were so strongly attached to their former master that they had no dispo- sition to leave him. Among the visitors to his house was Col. Polk, a large owner of slaves. He had but lately despatched a large colony to Tennessee, where he had purchased a plantation for his son. Feeling in some doubt as to the doctor’s soundness upon the institution, he took an early opportunity to open a conversation which would be satisfactory to his own mind, and perhaps quiet the minds of other members of the congregation who were troubled like himself. So deep was the hold which their pastor had upon his flock that they would tolerate a degree of freedom of expression on this subject that would in all probability subject a stranger from the North to immediate tar and feathers, and perhaps hang- ing. The colonel, on calling, opened the conversation cau- tiously. “1 perceive, doctor, that you have been perusing the late work of De Tocqueville on Democracy in America.” The volume was lying open upon his centre-table, appar- ently about half read. “Iam glad that an American publisher has been found to give to the world an edi- tion so ereditably executed. I doubt if the English edition is much better.” “Yes, sir; the art of printing is making rapid ad- AN HONEST RELIGIOUS TEACHER. T1 vances in America, and I hope soon that we shall be entirely emancipated from all our notions of English superiority, especially in the art of printing.” “ But, doctor, although I have heard much of this great work of De Tocqueville, I have never had the time to peruse a page; my information is wholly derived from certain criticisms which I have seen in the papers. | understand he does not speak very favorably of our Southern institutions. He makes some strictures that are quite distasteful, 1 find. If you have the time, I should be glad to have you give me some account of what you have read so far.” The doctor, thinking this a fine opportunity of im- parting correct views upon the fundamental principles of a true democracy, which, in his own view contained no such discordant principle as chattel slavery, was quite willing to comply with his request. ** De Tocqueville, in his first chapter, begins by sketch- ing the history of American civilization. He declares that it exhibits none of that mythological obscurity which pertains to the history and origin of almost all former people. It was commenced in the full blaze of the revived learning of all Kurope. The philosophical historians of England, France, and Germany may sit down to the study of our annals with a certainty of un- derstanding all the facts pertaining to our most intimate social life. If nothing satisfactory can be ascertained as to the fundamental causes and principles of the an- cient democracies, no such obscurity is to be found here. All the phenomena attending our origin and settlement are matters of very minute record by the founders them- 12 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. selves. This is owing, in some measure, to their having started in their career after the revival of learning, and after the art of printing was discovered. *“‘ He begins his examination of our social and politi- cal state with the very just remark, which I will read, ‘Providence has given us a torch which our forefathers did not possess, and has allowed us to discern funda- mental causes in the history of the world which the ob- scurity of the past obscures from us.’ The value of these studies he considers of ereat importance in review- ing the past. Many things heretofore obscure are now luminous with meaning. Whether other writers will find them of as great importance as he estimates them, remains to be seen. He declares; ‘If we can fully ex- amine the social and political history of America after having studied its history, we shall remain perfectly con- vinced that not an opinion, not a custom, not a law, I may say not an event is upon record which the origin . of that people will not explain.’ He next proceeds to speak of some of the elements pertaining to the settle- ment of the different colonies. Some of these circum- stances are alike; but in many very important particu- lars dissimilar and inharmonious. ‘ The colonies are mostly of the English race and speak that language. In the North they establish a true democracy; in the South, unfortunately for succeeding generations, they have not. yet lost all love of an aristocracy, — landed proprietors with their retinues of slaves. The Pilgrims came to promote education, religion, and establish free- dom. Social equality was the initial principle of the rising State; labor was the lot of all, and honorable in Pv ¢ ) vw AN HONEST RELIGIOUS TEACUER. all. How different were the facts pertaining to South- ern setilements. The men sent to Virginia were seck- ers of gold, adventurers without resources and without character, whose turbulent and restless spirits endan- gered the infant colony, and rendered its progress un- certain. The artisans and agriculturists arrived after- wards; and although they were a more moral and orderly race of men, they were nowise above the level of the inferior classes in England. No lofty conceptions, no intellectual system directed the foundation of these new settlements. The colony was scarcely established when slavery was introduced, and this was the main circumstance which has exercised so prodigious an influence on the character, the laws, and all the future prospects of the South.’ ”’ The colonel, who had listened with close attention to the last few sentences, while admitting mentally the truthfulness of the description, interposed a word of comment. “If this be true, and our civilization is to become homogeneous, I can see no escape from a terrible and protracted contest in the future, unless, indeed, the South becomes a distinct confederacy, which might be effected by peaceable means.”’ “The severe justice of the Puritan character, to say nothing of the great interests of humanity, both in Eu- rope and America, which would be involved, would not admit of so peaceable a separation as you and I might 59 desire,” replied the doctor, ‘ De Tocqueville in main- taining these statements { uotes lareely from contem \0- | Sel) raneous history, and also from subsequent records. He 7 74 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. refers to the work of Wm. Stith, who was, I believe the first president of William and Mary College, at Williamsburg, Va.* He was the author of a history of the first discovery and settlement of Virginia. He died in 1750. He says that a large portion of the ad- venturers were unprincipled young men of family whom their parents were glad to ship off, discharged servants, fraudulent bankrupts, and debauchees, and others of the same class,— people more apt to pillage and de- stroy than to assist the settlement, and were the sedi- tious chiefs who easily led this band in every kind of extravagance and excess.’”’ These statements are con- firmed by the testimony of Smith and Beverly. The chief element of their decaying civilization was unfor- tunately introduced in 1620 by a Dutch vessel, which landed twenty negroes on the banks of the James. The reader can see, in the light of the present rebel- lion, which is in progress while we write, the truthful- ness of De Tocqueville in his reasonings on this sub- ject, to which this proud Southerner was compelled to listen, who was no less a personage than the father of that distinguished champion of Southern rights, Major- Gen. Leonidas Polk, of the release of whose slaves in Tennessee we have lately had intelligence. “¢Slavery,’”’ continued the doctor, quoting De Toe- queville, “* as we shall afterwards show, dishonors labor; it introduces idleness into society, and with idleness, ignorance and pride, luxury and distress; it enervates * This institution has been disbanded, and the town almost destroyed by the tramp of armed hosts in the present war for the perpetuity of the Union. Its inhabitants are scattered, and its strong men slain in battle. AN HONEST RELIGIOUS TEACHER. T5 the powers of the mind, and benumbs the activities of man. The influence of slavery, united to English character, explains the manners and social condition of the Southern States.’ It was not until some time after their first settlement in Virginia that a few rich English capitalists came to fix themselves in the colony.* “In entire contrast to these circumstances, he notices, particularly, the history of the founding of the New England colonies. In his first chapter, he had noticed at some length the differences of soil and climate, both greatly favoring the South. The foundation of New England was a novel spectacle, and all the circumstan- ces attending it were singular and original. The large = majority of the other colonies, in the Old and New World, have been first inhabited, either by men without education and without resources, driven by their pov- erty and their misconduct from the land which gave them birth, or by speculators and adventurers, greedy of gain. Some settlements cannot even boast so hon- orable an origin. St. Domingo was founded by buc- caneers, and, at the present day, the criminal courts of England supply the population of Australia.t The settlers who established themselves on the shores’ of New England all belonged to the more independent classes of their native country. Their union on the soil of America at once presented one singular phenom- enon of a society containing neither lords nor common * See De Tocqueville, chap. ii. (notes). t The tide of this class of people which is being turned upon our shores will most surely work out the most unhappy consequences, Some of the bitter fruits we are now reaping. as) MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. people, neither rich nor poor. ‘These men possessed in proportion to their number a s of intelli- gence than is to be found in any Kuropean nation of our own time. All, without a single exception, had received a good education : many of them were known in Kurope for their talents and their acquirements. The other colonies have been founded by adventurers, without family ; the emigrants of New England brought with them the best elements of good order and moral- ity. Chey anded in the desert, accompanied by their Wives ; ildren. But what most especially distin- guished them was the aim of their undertaking. They had not been obliged by necessity to leave their coun- try; the social position they abandoned was one to be regretted, and their means of subsistence were certain. Nor did they cross the Atlantic to improve: their situa- tion or to increase their wealth. The call which sum- moned them from the comforts of their homes was purely intellectual, and in facing the inevitable suffer- ines of exile, their object was the triumph of a great idea. ‘‘ When,” continued the doctor. “the author comes to the annals left us by these heavenly-minded men, the account of their own intentions, the humanity which marked every moment, he is awe-struck at the wonder- ful providences which attended them and preserved them alive amid all their disasters. They came, led by an unseen hand, to secure a home in the wilderness of America, where they might freely worship God, and begin a new Civilization, founded in the virtue, intelli- gence, and equality of its people. AN HONEST RELIGIOUS TEACHER. T7 “They started in their frail vessels for the shores of the Hudson, but the winds and the storm wafted them to Plymouth rock. He sees, even in the sacredness with which their descendants regard this rock, an evi- dence of the grandeur of their ideas. ‘I éhave seen,’ he remarks, ‘bits of it carefully preserved, in several towns of the Union. Does not this sufficiently show that all human power and greatness is in the soul of man? Here is a stone which the feet of a few outcasts pressed for an instant, and this stone becomes famous . it is treasured by a great nation ; its very dust is shared as a relic. And what is become of the gateways of a thousand palaces?’ In his further study of these sin- gular people, he does not find them given to wild spec- ulations as to the mode of living, but their first act is to combine themselves into a community, and subject themselves to a written constitution, —a covenant for their mutual security and good order. They even ac- knowledge themselves in the first written expression of their opinions, as the ‘legal subjects of their dead sov- ereign, Lord King James.’ The population of New England increased rapidly, and while the hierarchy of rank despotically classed the inhabitants of the mother country, the colony continued to present the novel spec- tacle of a community homogeneous in all its parts. A democracy, more perfect than any which antiquity had dreamed of, started in full blaze and panoply from the midst of an ancient feudal society. I doubt not,” said Dr. H., in concluding his remarks on De Tocque- ville, “that the English government was glad to be relieved of the discordant elements of her society, and 7* MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. was pleased to allow the infant colonies the enjoyment and development of their own wild dreams of a new state. The policy of: Great Britain was to allow their ideas the freest and fullest scope, assured that if any good came of them, her superior power and ownership of the territory would in the end only add to her ereat- ness.’ During all this time the doctor had carefully abstained from making any comments upon the views of De Tocqueville, and was willing to allow the truths which his friend had received to produce their own fruit. He could not be certain .that the seed was sown into good ground. His personal interest in the institu- tion was very great, and mere argument, however pow- erful, would effect but little. As the colonel went into the hall, and was about to leave, they met Lunsford, who had called upon an errand. ‘ Ah, Lunsford. I am glad to see you. [ suppose we are to have another lappy free negro in our midst, to make our happy slaves all unhappy. I hope you will have the good sense to use your liberty as not abusing it. Have you heard >) anything of my man Solomon?” ‘“ Yes, master: he re- turned from Tarboro’ last night, and says he has found a master for his wife, and he is ready to take her away as soon as you will allow him.” The colonel. turning to the doctor, said, ** Here, I suppose, is what those Northern abolitionists will call one of the beauties of our institution. You know I have lately purchased a plantation in Tennessee for my son Leonidas, and I have found some difficulty in getting some of my best ser- vants to consent to a separation from their families, especially the men. It seems that Solomon and hig THE SLAVE SOLOMON. , ryt 1 5 ] wife came from the neighborhood of Tarboro’, where they have a number of children, owned upon plan- tations near each other. The distance from here is not so great that they cannot occasionally visit them and look after their comfort, though I have no doubt they are well enough off. I found Solomon willing to leave his wife, provided he could find her a master near her children. I permitted him to go in pur- suit of the object, naming a moderate price for his wife. Lunsford, here, tells me he has succeeded, and returned last evening.” ‘ Well, colonel. in addi- tion to all this, do you really contemplate sending Solomon to join your negro colony in Tennessee. Of , course he will never see his wife again.”’ “I do not see how I can do otherwise; he is one of the most valuable 99 hands in the gang. “1 must confess,” rejoined the doctor, as the colonel left the door-step, “I would not undertake your fearful responsibility for the wealth of all the slaves in the South.”’ The sequel to Solomon’s history is as follows: — After seeing his wife comfortably sold upon a plantation near his children, he starts for Tennessee with several other hands, under the care of an overseer. The deep grief that preyed upon his heart gave him rest neither day nor night. The slave had a deep and abiding attach- ment to his wife and children. Upon the third night out, he left the overseer at a moment when he was off his guard, and made his way to Tarboro’. He concealed himself in the swamps for over a year, visiting his wife and children at night. Finally his master (the colo- 80 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. nel) sent word to his family that if Solomon would Py T c Cc ay ; 1clmyan ] 1 y bd find a new master in Edgecomb County, or in Tarboro’, he would consent to dispose of him. The sale was soon arranged, and he was thus restored to his family, and ever remained a most orderly and faithful slave. CHAPTER VI. “ Shall tongues be mute when deeds are wrought Which well might shame extremest hell? Shall freemen lock the indignant thought? Shall Pity’s bosom cease to swell? Shall Honor bleed? Shall Truth succumb? Shall pen and press and soul be dumb? No! guided by our country’s laws, For truth and right and suffering man, Be ours to strive in Freedom's cause As Christians may, as freemen can, Still pouring on unwilling ears That truth oppression only fears.” _— o_o HIS CONTINUED PROSPERITY — NEGOTIATES FOR THE PURCHASE OF WIFE AND CHILDREN — DARK DAYS — THE SLAVEHOLDER ON HIS TRACK — THE CRUEL STATUTE—PETITIONS THE LEG- ISLATURE — FAILS IN OBTAINING MERCY — DARKER DAYS. UNSFORD now began to rise steadily in the esti- ‘4 mation of all the better classes in the community. His consistent religious life, his honesty and attention to business, and his great industry in procuring his free- dom, all combined to create a real respect for the man. A few among the poorer white people were jealous of the attentions paid him, and took frequent occasion to taunt him with being only a “nigger, after all.” His mahumission having now been secured, and legally recorded in a free State, he felt a degree of personal security. “The bill of sale simply conveyed me to Mr. Smith, though the purchase was made through the labor of my own hands. 1 knew there were many eladly see me a slave again, but I had who would ; 81 82 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. friends of influence who would not see me wronged if they could prevent it.” He soon enlarged his business. To his tobacco and pipes he added a small trade in a variety of articles. <«“ My customers were not only among the slaves and the free people of color, but many of my friends among the white population sent to my shop for articles needed. As my little means increased, I entered into a considerable business in fire- wood, which I purchased by the acre standing, cut it, hauled it into the city and deposited it in a yard, and sold it out as I advantageously could. To facilitate this increasing business, I kept one or two horses and vari- ous vehicles, by which I was enabled to doa variety of work at trucking about town. I had even to hire more or less help in these busy operations. In the manufac- ture of tobacco I met with considerable competition, but none that materially injured me. The method of preparing it having originated with me and my father, we found it necessary, in order to secure the advantage of the invention, to keep it to ourselves, and decline, though often solicited, going. into partnership with oth- ers. Those who undertook the manufacture could neither give the article a flavor as pleasant as ours, nor manufacture it so cheaply ; so they either failed in it. or succeeded but poorly. With these increasing evidences of prosperity, I felt truly grateful to a kind Providence that had made my condition to differ so greatly from that of thousands of my fellow-beings in bonds, many of them compelled to languish out a miserable exist- ence upon the plantations, especially those upon the unhealthy lowlands of the Neuse and other streams. CONTINUED PROSPERITY. 83 The visitors at my shop in the evening, after their day’s toil was completed, had sad stories of wrongs endured by themselves or friends. Aware of our utter power- lessness in removing these evils, we were cautious in our words, and in our deportment toward our superl- ors. Any attempt at resistance would bring certain and immediate destruction. Besides, we had seen the attempt fail, and we were not anxious to put our necks in the halter. For myself, now, if ever, I needed wis- dom to guide my steps aright, and to avoid the least suspicion of discontent, or of a desire to create uneasi- ness in others. Among the callers at my shop was a free negro by the name of George Lowrey, the former slave of Wiles Jones, of Halifax, N. CG. More than twenty-five years previously he had been sold South, and, after over twenty years’ service, succeeds, by his industry and good conduct, in purchasing his freedom, and returns to Raleigh, where he spends the remainder of his days among his friends and relatives. His case fas @rare one, and of course excited considerable in- terest among slaves liable to a similar fate. His story of the wrongs which he had witnessed upon Southern plantations made a deep impression upon my mind, and produced a salutary dread of a calamity so great. He described the cruelty practised toward women as oreat in the extreme. Having no desire for the natural in- crease, as in the slave-breeding States, the women are forced into the fields under circumstances when their offspring are almost certain to perish from neglect. The term of life among field hands is not expected to be long, and the most rapid use of bone and muscle in the busy season is far the most economical ! MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. ut George Lowrey had been endowed by Providence with strong hands, a good disposition, and withal, a religious nature, which commended him to the kind consideration of his master; and after years of most faithful service, he purchases his freedom, and spends the remainder of his days as a preacher of righteous- ness to his race in Raleigh. To show the shrewd spirit which sometimes animates the slave in securing the good-will of his master,—for this is his only hope of: securing favors, — without intending to approve of the motive in the incident, we relate the followine:— One evening, Derby, a slave belonging to Mr. Hay- wood, the State Treasurer, called, and while talking about the funeral solemnities of the late Secretary White, who had held that office for many years, and was greatly respected throughout the State, he re- marked that the family seemed greatly pleased at his having voluntarily placed crape upon his hat, as was the custom at the South; they thought it evinced great consideration for the family and friends, and for which he deserved great praise. Derby remarked that he was afraid his motive had been misinterpreted, for he would be glad to have kept it upon his hat until they were all as decently placed beneath the sod as Secretary White, if that would aid him in securing his freedom. Lunsford, feeling now a degree of security. began to think of a permanent settlement in Raleigh, and the securing of a home for his wife and children. For this purpose he purchases a house and lot on Argate Street, for which he paid $500. It was not long after obtain- ing his own freedom before he began seriously to think EFFORTS TO PURCHASE HIS FAMILY. 85 about purchasing the freedom of his family. His first plan was to purchase his wife, and that they should jointly labor to obtain the freedom of the children, as they were able, after the first object had been accom- plished. With this idea he approached Mr. Smith, but became almost discouraged when he found that his wile’s master refused to sell her to him for less than one thousand dollars, which then appeared too large asum toraise. ‘This depression, however, was not of long continuance ; he determined at all events not to be baffled in his efforts to secure the freedom of the entire family. Summoning resolution, he went to Mr. Smith to learn his price, which he placed at the very modest sum of three thousand dollars, for his wife and six children,— the number to which his family had erown. ‘This seemed in my eyes a large amount, for several reasons ; first, because it was a great sum for me to raise; it involved the sacrifice of every penny’s worth of property I had in the world, in addition to other years of toil. Second, I knew the price Mr. Smith had paid for my wife and two children, which was only five hundred and sixty dollars. Ue had, since the purchase, received their labor, while I had almost entirely supported them, both as to food and clothing. By every rule of justice I was certainly entitled to the pecuniary benefit I had thus conferred upon him, as well as upon my family. The case seemed indeed a hard one; but I felt 1 was entirely in his power and must do the best I could. At length he concluded, in- fluenced by the representations and persuasions of my friends, to sell the family for two thousand five hundred > 86 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. dollars. I represented to him my great desire to see them free ; but he contended to the last that they were worth the amount he had first named. Possibly he may have thought that, at that time, they would have brought that sum if sold for the Southern market. faving agreed to this arrangement, I gave Mr. Smith five notes of five hundred dollars each, the first coming due in January, ), and one in January of each suc- 1L84( ceeding year. My family were thus transferred into my own possession, with a written obligation to give me a bill of sale when I should pay the notes. We now, to our exceeding great joy, found ourselves living in our own house,— one which I had purchased, as stated above. This was in January, 1839. So excessive was the joy and excitement of my wife, in her new and happy relation, and in transferring her effects to the new home, that she was quite ill for some time. I said to her, that her case reminded me of a poor shoemaker, somewhere in that State, who purchased a ticket in the lottery (this is another delightful Southern institution ), but not expecting to draw, the fact of his having pur- chased it had passed out of his mind. But one day, as he was at work at his last, he was informed that his ticket had drawn the liberal prize of ten thousand dol- lars; and the poor Man Was 50 overjoyed that he fell back on his seat and expired. “ Who can tell the joy ofa family thus reunited, and in freedom, permitted, under their own vine and fig- tree, to offer up to a God of loving-kindness the grate- ful incense of humble hearts? We had received good at his hands, and we felt unwilling to withhold from DARK DAYS. 87 him the praise. It is true the great work of our liber- ation was not yet completed, yet we had health and “ Thus thinos were annilv ‘Ae ‘no itd . oil Thus things were happily proceeding, little dreaming ¢* of the storm that was about to break over our quiet 4 home, and perhaps put out, in darkness, the hope of years. It will be remembered that my emancipation had been legally secured only by going to the State of New York, and having the evidence of my right to freedom placed on record there. My secret enemies in taleigh reasoned that 1 must hereafter be looked upon as a free negro, from another State. The first intima- tion I had of any plot against my happiness was in September, 1840. As I was passing along the street one day, engaged in my business, an officer handed me the following note, saying, ‘ itead it, or if you cannot 5 read, get some white man to read it to you.’ It was as follows. Itis given verbatim et lteratim: — ‘To Lunsford Lane, a free man of color. ‘Take notice, that whereas complaint has been made to us, two Justices of the Peace, for the County of Wake and State of North Carolina, that you are a free negro from another State, who has migrated into this State, contrary to the provisions of the act of Assembly concerning free negros and mulattoes; now notice is , Lad oe : . ° you that unless you leave and remove out of this ba . given State, within twenty days, that you will be proceeded against for the penalty prescribed by said act of Assem- bly, and be otherwise dealt with as the law directs. Sg 7 ESS 88 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. Given under our hands and seals this 5th day of Sep- tember, 1840. JORDAN WOMBLE, J. P., ( Seal.) Wixuis Scort, J. P. ( Seal.)’ “This was a terrible blow to me, for it prostrated at once all my hopes, in the cherished object of obtaining the freedom of my family, and I looked upon nothing but separation from them forever. This blow I knew had come from the lowest class in the community, —the poor, degraded white man, who looks with jealousy upon every effort of the negro to elevate himself. They knew, too, I had a few friends among the most wealthy and cultivated people in town, and they did not relish the attentions paid me. In order that the reader may understand the ground for serving the foregoing notice, it may be well to refer to the law of the State under which it was issued. In the Revised Statutes of North Carolina, Chap. 111, Sec. 65, it is written: ‘It shall not be lawful for any free negro or mulatto to migrate into this State; and if he or she shall do so, contrary to the provisions of this act, and being thereof informed, shall not, within twenty days thereafter, remove out of the State, he or she, being thereof convicted in the manner hereinafter directed, shall be liable to a penalty of five hundred dollars; and upon failure to pay the same, within the time prescribed in the judgment awarded against such person or persons, he or she shall be liable to be held in servitude, and at labor, a term of time not exceeding ten years, in such manner and upon such terms as may be provided by the court awarding such DARK DAYS. 89 sentence, and the proceeds arising therefrom shall be paid over to the county trustee for county purposes. Provided, that in case any free negro or mulatto shall pay the penalty of five hundred dollars, according to the provisions of this act, it shall be the duty of such free negro or mulatto to remove him or herself out of this State within twenty days thereafter, and for every such failure, he or she shall be subject to the like penalty, as prescribed for a failure to remove in the first instance.’ The next section provides ‘that if the free person of color, so notified, does not leave within the twenty days after receiving the notice, he may be arrested on a warrant from any Justice, and be held to bail for his appearance at the next county court, where he will be subject to the penalties specified above ; or, in case of his failure to give bonds, he may be sent to jail.’ ‘J hastened to make known my situation to my friends, and after taking legal advice, it was determined to induce, if possible, the complainants to prosecute no farther for the present, and then, as the Legislature of the State was to sit in about two months, to petition that body for permission to remain in the State until Ll could complete the purchase of my family, after which I was willing, if necessary, to leave.” One circumstance, which has not yet been mentioned, eave Lunsford Lane considerable influence in town and among a few of the better informed. For several years previous to the event above stated, he had been employed in the office of the governor of the State, sometimes acting under the direction of the governor, but princi- g* 90 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. pally under his private secretary. His duties were not laborious, but required intelligence and honesty. He was required to keep the office in order, see that papers and documents were in their proper place, to attend the post-office and the carrying of messages and papers to and from the different offices in the State House. He also placed the seal of State to documents that had been signed by the governor. ‘“ This circum- stance, with the fact of the high standing in the city of my former master’s family, and of the former masters of my wife, gave me the friendship of the first people in the State, many of whom, from the time of my being called to this position, acted toward me a friendly part. I had served in this relation during the whole term of Gov. Dudley, and during six months of Gov. More- head’s time. At the period now alluded to, and when I wag in so great distress at the singular course affairs had taken, | was acting under the direction of Mr. Bat- tle, then private secretary of Gov. Dudley. I immedi- ately went to him and stated my grievances, and the determination of my enemies that I should be driven from the State. He evinced great interest in my case, and addressed the following note in my behalf to Geo. W. Haywood, Esq., the prosecuting attorney : — ‘Raveran, Nov. 3, 1840. ‘Dear Sie: Lunsford Lane, a free man of color, has been in the employ of the State under me since my en- trance on my present situation. I understand that un- der a law of the State he has been notified to leave, and that the time is now at hand. In the discharge of the DARK DAYS. 91 duties I had from him, I have found him prompt, obe- dient, and faithful. At this particular time, his absence to me would be much regretted, as I am now just fixing up my books and other papers in the new office, and shall not have time to learn another what he can already do so well. With me, the period of the Legislature is a very busy one, and I am compelled to have a servant who understands the business I want done, and one I ean trust. I would not wish to be an obstacle in the execu- tion of any law; but the enforcing of the one against him will be doing me a serious inconvenience; and the object of this letter is to ascertain whether I could not procure a suspension of the sentence till after the ad- journment of the Legislature,—say about the first of January, 1841. I should feel no hesitation in giving © my word that he will conduct himself orderly and obe- diently. ‘l am, most respectfully, ‘Your obedient servant, ‘C. C. Barrie. ‘To G. W. HAyYwoopn, Esq., Attorney at Law, Raleigh, N. C/? “To the above letter, the following reply was made: ‘RaLerGH, Nov. 2, 1840. ‘My Dear Sir: I have no objection, so far as I am concerned, that all further proceedings against Luns- ford should be postponed until after the adjournment of the Legislature. The process now out against him is one issued by two magistrates, Messrs. Willis Scott and Jordan Womble, over which I have no control. You 92 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. had better see them to-day, and, perhaps at your re- quest, they will delay further action on the subject. ‘Respectfully yours, ‘Geo. W. Haywoop.’ * Mr. Battle then enclosed the foregoing correspon- dence to Messrs. Scott and Womble. requesting their ryyy favorable consideration. They returned the notes; but made no reply. In consequence, no doubt, of this action on the part of my friends, I was permitted to re- main without further interruption, until the day the Leg- islature commenced its session. On that day a warrant was served upon me to appear before the county court, to answer for the sin of having remained in the place of my birth for the space of twenty days and more af- ter being warned to leave. I escaped going to jail only through the kindness of my former master’s son, Mr. Haywood, and Mr. Smith, who jointly became security for my appearance at court. This occurred on Monday ; and on Wednesday | appeared before the court; but as my prosecutors were not ready for trial, the case was laid over three months, to the next term. I hoped that the decided stand taken by my friends had, for the present, at least, driven off these emissaries of the slave-power, who were seeking my ruin. ‘Having taken advice, I determined to present a peti- tion to the Legislature, as strongly fortified as possible by the signatures of respectable men in town. It re- quired much persistent labor and persuasion on my part to start it; but, after that, I readily obtained the signatures of the: principal men of influence. I then PETITIONS THE LEGISLATURE. 93 went round to the members of the Legislature, many of whom were known to me, calling upon them at their rooms, and urging them to support my petition, for my sake, for humanity’s sake, for the sake of my wife and the little ones whose hopes were bound up in my fate, and who had been excited by the idea that they were even now free. I desired to remain only sufficient time in the State to secure their freedom. I was now doing a good business, and to break up everything now, I looked upon as a great disaster, to say nothing of the blasted hopes of wife and children. If they would allow me to do this, then, if it was desired, we would together seek a more friendly home, beyond the do- minion of slavery.”* I subjoin in the note the petition as signed and presented to the Legislature.* * To THE HONORABLE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF Nortu CAR- OLINA: Gentlemen: The petition of Lunsford Lane humbly shows that about five years ago he purchased his freedom from his mistress, Mrs. Sherwood Haywood, and by great economy and industry has paid the purchase money; that he has a wife and seven children whom he has agreed to purchase, and for whom he has paid a part of the purchase money; but not having paid in full, is not yet able to leave the State without parting with his wife and children. Your petitioner prays your honorable body to pass a law allowing him to remain a limited time within the State, until he can remove his family also. Your petitioner will give bond and good security for his good behavior while he remains. Your petitioner will ever pray, ete. LUNSFORD LANE, The undersigned are well acquainted with Lunsford Lane, the petitioner, and join in his petition to the Assembly for relief. Charles Manley, Fabius J. Haywood, William White, R. W. Haywood, D. W. Stone, George Simpson, Eleanor Haywood, T. Merideth, John J. Christophers, William Hill, A. J. Battle, John Primrose, R. Smith, Drury Lacy, High McQueen, William Peace, Will. Peck, Alex. J. Lawrence, James Peace, W. A. Stith, C. L. Hinton, William McPheeters, A. B. Stith, J. Brown. William Boylan, 94 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. His petition was in due time presented to the Senate. It was referred to a committee. ‘I knew,” he says, ‘when the committee was to report, and 1 watched about the State House, that I might receive the earliest news of my fate. I would like to have gone within the senate chamber, or at least into the vestibule, that | migeht know the interest manifested in my behalf. But no colored man is allowed that permission. 1 know not why, unless he may hear the eloquence of American freedom uttered by the lips of slave-holders.”’ Jertainly there seems great inconsistency in our leg- islating slave-holders’ proclaiming to all the world the ] great boon of American freedom, and pointing the oppressed nations of Europe to the fair Goddess of Lib- erty, whilst their feet are firmly placed upon the necks of four million slaves. We may well account for the little influence that American civilization has had upon Europe in the past fifty years or more whilst the insti- tution of slavery remains. It is destined to have less To which was added the following from Mr. Battles : — Lunsford Lane, the petitioner herein, has been servant to the Executive Office since the first of January 1837, and it gives me pleasure to state that during the whole time, without exception, I have found him faithful and obedient in keep- ing everything committed to his care in good conditi¢n. From what I have seen of his conduct and demeanor, I cheerfully join in the petition for his relief. C. C. BATTLE, Private Secretary to Gov. Dudley. RALEIGH, Noy. 20, 1840. ? The writer has lived in the South a sufficient length of time to become famil- jar with the spirit which animates slave-holders, and their prejudice against the negro. We know that nothing but the respectable character of the petitioner, and the like character of his friends would have prevented them from looking upon the petition as an insult, and rejecting it with all that disdain that the high-born aristocrats and lords of the soil could exhibit. But, being respectable, it deserved a better fate. FAILS IN OBTAINING MERCY. and less while it continues.* Lunsford had greatly mistaken the temper of Southern men if he, not long since a SLAVE, expected much consideration at their hands. The presence and influence of an intelligent * We commend to those who are indifferent one of the sweet ‘voices of free- dom,” by that champion of every good cause, whose earnest pleadings for the oppressed challenge our highest esteem. STANZAS. BY J. G. WHITTIER. (“The despotism which our fathers could not bear in their native country is expiring, and the sword of Justice in her reformed hands has applied its exter- minating edge to slavery. Shall the United States —the free United States, which could not bear the bonds of a king—cradle the bondage which a king is abolishing? Shall a republic be less free than a monarchy? Shall we,in the vigor and buoyancy of our manhood, be less energetic in righteousness than a kingdom in its age?” — Dr. Folland’s Address.) / Our fellow-countrymen in chains! Slaves —in a land of light and law! Slaves — crouching on the very plains Where rolled the storm of Freedom’s war! A groan from Eutaw’s haunted wood, — A wail where Camden’s martyrs fell, — By every shrine of patriot blood, From Moultrie’s wall and Jasper’s well! sy storied hill and hallowed grot, By mossy wood and marshy green, Whence rang of old the rifle shot, And hurrying shout of Marion’s men! The groan of breaking hearts is there — The falling lash —the fetters’ clank! Slaves — SLAVES are breathing in that air Which old De Kalb and Sumter drank, What, ho!—our countrymen in chains! The whip on WOMAN’S shrinking flesh! Our soil yet reddening with the stains Caught from her scourgings, warm and fresh? What! mothers from their children riven ! What! God’s own image bought and sold! AMERICANS to market driven, And bartered as the brute for gold! 96 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. DARKER DAYS. free man of color, who had achieved his liberty through his own industry and wits, was a dangerous element in their society. Here was a fitting opportunity to put an end to the efforts of these aspiring negroes, and they Speak! shall this agony of prayer Come thrilling to our hearts in vain? To us whose fathers scorned to bear The paltry menace of a chain; To us, whose boast is loud and long Of holy Liberty and Light ; Say, — shall these writhing slaves of wrong, Plead vainly for their plundered right ? What! shall we send, with lavish breath, Qur sympathies across the vave, Where manhood on the field of death Strikes for his freedom or a grave? Shall prayers go up, and hymns be sung, For Greece, the Moslem fetter spurning, And millions hail, with pen and tongue, Our light on all her altars burning? Shall Belgium feel, and gallant France, By Vendome’s pile, and Schoenburn’s wall And Poland, gasping on her lance, The impulse of our cheering cal] ? And shall the slave beneath our eye Clank o’er our fields his hateful chain? And toss his fettered arms on high, And groan for freedom’s gift in vain? Oh, say, shall Prussia’s banner be A refuge for the stricken slave ? And shall the Russian serf go free By Baikal’s lake, and Neva’s wave? And shall the wintry-bosom Dane Relax the iron hand of pride, And bid his bondsmen cast the chain From fettered soul and limb aside? Shall every flap of England’s flag Proclaim that all around are free, From “ farthest Ind” to each blue crag That beetles o’er the Western sea? And shall we scoff at Europe kings, When Freedom’s fire is dim with us, And round our country’s altar clings The damning shade of Slavery’s curse? Go!—let us ask of Constantine To loose his grasp on Poland’s throat; And beg the lord of Mahmoud’s line To spare his struggling Suliote. Will not the scorching answer come From turbaned Turk and scornful Russ: “ Go, loose your fettered slaves at home, Then turn and ask the like of us!” Just God! and shall we calmly rest, — The Christian’s scorn, the heathen’s mirth,— Content to live the lingering jest And by-word of a mocking earth? Shall our own glorious land retain That curse which Europe scorns to bear? Shall our own brethren drag the chain Which not even Russia’s menials wear ? Jp, then, in Freedom’s manly part, From gray-veard eld to fiery youth, And on the nation’s naked heart Scatter the living coals of Truth! Up!— while ye slumber, deeper yet The shadow of our fame is growing; Up!—while ye pause, our sun may set In blood around our altars flowing! Oh, rouse ye, ere the storm comes forth, — The gathered wrath of God and man,— : ’ Like that wl lich wasted Egypt’s earth, When hail and fire above it ran. Hear ye no warnings in the air? Feel ye no earthquake underneath ? Up, up! why will ye slumber where The sleepers only wake in death ? ] ‘ Up now for Freedom! — not in strife Like that your sterner fathers saw,— The awful waste of human life, — The glory and the guilt of war: But break the chain, the yoke remove, And smite to earth oppression’s rod, With those mild arms of Truth and Love, Made mighty through the living God! 9 98 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. did not hesitate to strike the blow. As Lunsford waited in the outer porch, a member came out, and, with an air of utter indifference to his feelings, and with a voice of merriment, even, he said, — *‘ WELL, LUNSFORD, THEY HAVE LAID YOU OUT; THE NIGGER BILL IS KILLED.” ‘* Need I tell the reader what my feelings were, and how I regarded this honorable senator? To me, the fate of my petition was the last blow to my hopes. I had done all I could do, and said all I could say, labor- ing day and night, to obtain a favorable reception of my prayer; but allin vain. I had attributed to them ten- derness of heart and mercy to the oppressed, where none existed. A few I knew were true, and spoke to me soothing words; but the power of the slave-holder had not been reached. Nothing now remained but that [ must leave the State, and leave my wife and children, never more to see them. My friends had now done all they could and all they dared to do in my behalf. Is it strange that 1 asked myself why I was thus banished ? I had, ever since obtaining my freedom, endeavored so to conduct myself as in no way to become obnoxious to the white inhabitants, knowing as I did their power and their hostility to the colored people. Two things I kept constantly in mind. First, to make no display of the Down let the shrine of Moloch sink, And leave no traces where it stood; Nor longer let its idol drink His daily cup of human blood; But rear another altar there, To Truth and Love and Mercy given, / And Freedom’s gift and Freedom’s prayer, Shall eall an answer down from Heaven' DARKER DAYS. rsh little property or money I possessed; but in every way [ wore, as much as possible, the aspect of poverty. Secondly, I never appeared to know half so much as I really did. On no occasion did I seek to intrude my intelligence in my conversation with white people. This latter rule the people of my race in the South, both free and slave, find it peculiarly necessary, for their own comfort and safety, to observe. I should. perhaps, have mentioned, in the preceding account, that upon the same day I received the notice to leave Raleigh, similar notices had been served upon two other frec colored persons who had been slaves, and who. like myself, were trying to purchase their families. | “Tt will be seen that the Legislature determined to make a clean sweep of this troublesome class of citizens. These persons took the same course I did to gain time to purchase their families: Isaac Hunter, who had a family of five children, and Walter freeman, who had six children. Hunter’s petition went in before mine, and a bill of some sort passed the senate, which was modified in the house, allowing him only TWENTY DAYS to leave the State. He has since, as I learned. obtained the freedom of his family, and they are now living with , 7 » “4 " : ‘ : + ot ‘ him in Philadelphia. Freeman’s petition received no better fate than mine. His family were the property of ya >, an , , . . . > Judgr Badger, who was afterward made a member of lr. Harrison’s cabinet. When Mr. Badger removed to Washing ashington, he took with him, among other slaves, this m;: ee oe | | 1an and his family. Soon after, when Mr. Badger re- S10} eC ( ig Gna vo4 ; . gned his office, with the other members of the cabinet, under President T. : ider President Tyler. he entered into some kind of a ew LOU MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE, contract with Freeman, by which he could purchase his family. He was therefore left at Washington with his family, while Mr. B. took the rest of his slaves to taleigh. Freeman, when last I heard from him, was endeavoring to raise money to complete the purchase. CHAPTER VII. “And still, where’er to sun and breeze, My country, is thy flag unrolled, With ecorn the gazing stranger sees A stain on every { “* Ah, tear the gorgeous emblem down! It gathers scorn from every ey: And despots smile and good men frown Whene’er it passes by. “Shame! shame! its starry splendors glow Above the slaver’s loathsome jail, — Its folds are ruffling even now His crimson flag of sale,” —*o NEW TRIALS—ARRESTED IN BALTIMORE BY KIDNAPPERS—HIS DEFENCE—TRIAL BEFORE JUSTICE SHANE—LAWYER WALCH —A FRIEND IN NEED—THE LAND-SHARKS LOSE THEIR PREY —A CONVERSATION ABOUT MATTERS OF FACT. ’8NUE treatment which Lunsford had received at the hands of the Legislature is certainly surprising, When we consider all the circumstances. Men pOs- sessed with a spark of our common humanity would have given more attention to the prayer of an oppressed man, especially one in his position. He had not even Violated the letter of the law, for the statute was one concerning the “ migration of free negroes and mulat- toes into this State.’’ This was his native State: here . he was born, and lived. and here he hoped to spend the remainder of his days; but the law did not even per- mit him to purchase his freedom ; in no way, except on the ground of some “ meritorious conduct.’’ could this g* 101 LO2 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. 1 precious boon be conferred, and this must be done by a special act of the Legislature. He was therefore com- pelled to go to New York to secure this God-given right, which, by the hands of wicked men, had been wrested from him. Lunsford had always conducted himself with great caution in his intercourse with the people of his race; he was respected by some of the best mem- bers of the community. He had, by the labor of his own hands, acquired one thousand dollars for his own freedom, besides paying his mistress the full value of a slave’s labor. Whilst he was accumulating this sum. he was employed by the governors at the State House in a position of responsibility, and, according to the state- ment of the private Secretary of State (Mr. Battle), his services were invaluable, and could not easily be replaced by another so trustworthy. In the midst of this state of things, whilst seeking to purchase the free- dom of his wife and children, he is ordered to leave the State and all his affairs in twenty days. It was evident, that, for some reason, he was a dangerous man in the community; not that he had violated any law, but he was too aspiring in his notions; he would form too brilliant an example to the slave population in Raleigh. They might be fired to imitate his ip- dustry and perseverance, even under the crushing and discouraging weight of slavery. To preserve the institution intact. every such example of heroism and success under great difficulties must be removed: their frequent OCCUTTeNnCe would Cause nothing but disas- ter. But the difficulties interposed between himself and freedom were not to end here. Finding that NEW TRIALS. L038 there was still some time —nearly three months — before the next session of the court, he determines to visit his friends in Philadelphia and New York, Whose acquaintance he had made while on the visit with Mr. Smith; his object being to ascertain if any assistance could be obtained toward completing the purchase. He could do it unaided, had he only time ; but the cruel law left him no alternative: aid must be obtained from some source, or final separation from his family must inevitably follow. Putting into his carpet- bag such things as he needed for the journey, he started, accompanied by a free negro, John Jones, a former slave of Governor D. 8. Swain, at. this time President of the State University at Chapel Hill, whence Hinton Rowan Helper had been expelled. They had carefully placed in their pockets their free papers, together with notes of introduction to persons in Washington and Balti- more. ‘They had also their permits to pass over the railroads. Lunsford had the amplest evidence in his possession that he was what he represented himself to be,—a free man, travelling upon legitimate business to the Northern States. They had heard of the perils that beset the people of their race in the cities of W ashine- ton and Baltimore ; they had listened with tearful eyes to the sad stories of many who had been kidnapped and sold into slavery, and they were, not without rea- son, fearful of trouble. In the days of which we are now speaking, the slave-trade had not been driven from the District of Columbia; and slave-pens were in full opera- tion there, and in the city of Baltimore. The trade de- rived from the eastern shore of Maryland was still quite res et), | 8) a 104 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. large. On some plantations, little was done toward the cultivation of the soil, and the slaves were allowed an easy life, or such moderate exercise as tended to develop a healthy and numerous progeny for the Southern mar- ket. The sale of half a dozen likely negroes, in the spring or fall, was a handsome income, and allowed the luxurious planter, or rather breeder, to entertain his visitors from the city in a style of splendor impossible for the hard-fisted farmer in other portions of the State, where his income must be derived wholly from the cul- ture of the soil. We have known plantations of many hundred acres, where the products for the table were almost entirely derived from the Baltimore markets. With every facility, they were too indifferent to raise beef in sufficient quantity to feed the family and ser- vants.” The annual store. except of corn and wheat, was imported from abroad. The trade in human flesh, where it is conducted as a business, is carried on with great secrecy. Kivery kind of device is used for decoying children away from their parents, and wives from their husbands. Some- times the slaves, sent as if on business or pleasure upon the grain vessels, of which there is an immense fleet plying between Baltimore and the innumerable small streams and creeks of the Chesapeake and its tribu- taries, become a prey to the trader and his agents, who are always on the alert to seize and convey the unsuspecting victims to their pens. In this way, un- ruly and troublesome servants are disposed of with great facility. But let not the reader imagine that he has seen, in the above statement, all the horrors of NEW TRIALS. 105 Southern slavery. A deeper depth of iniquity is yet to be reached. The stock in trade of these dealers did not consist wholly in the class that they knew to be slaves. Thousands of slaves have escaped into the Northern States, and many others are in different pla- ces awaiting the chance of escape. Some of these the agents of the trader, who are scattered alone the whole border dividing the Free from the Slave States, succeed in arresting. But every negro, whether they know him to be a slave or a freeman, coming within their power, is in danger of being consigned to the fearful servitude. Every colored man, if a stranger. passing through the State, whether by railroad or upon the highways, is considered a slave escaping from his mas- ter. If he has the most undoubted evidence that he is a freeman, or has some friend at hand who can vouch for him, he may succeed in escaping their clutches. Lunsford, on reaching Washington, called upon Mr. Joseph Gales, the father of Mr. Gales, of the firm of Gales & Seaton, proprietors at that time of the Intelli- gencer. ‘The old gentleman had visited his former mas- ter’s house in Raleigh, and had thus been led to take an interest in Lunsford, which was much increased when he learned from his own lips and from his papers the ob- ject of his mission to the North. Knowing the fearful hazard he must run in passing through a Slave State, as he was about to depart, Mr. Gales said to him, “ Luns- ford, I had better give you a few lines to our mutual friend, Gideon Smith. of Baltimore: vou may have some trouble in getting through.” The villanous char- acter of the slave-trader was. to some extent, known MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. Mr. Gales. Thus provided, Lunsford and Jones 4. to reached Baltimore on Saturday afternoon, and put up at a very respectable boarding-house, kept by Henry D. Suter. a colored man. The next day being Sunday, f Saturday evening in preparation, they spent part 0 about the places of religious and in making inquiry worship, arranging their plans as to how they could see in their brief stay, intending to leave Little did and hear the most early on Monday morning for Philadelphia. they dream that even then the land-sharks employed Woodforks were upon their . moment the cars landed They had followed by the Slaters and the track. and had been, from the them at the depot on Pratt Street. 1 them to Butler’s boarding-house, and, even in the guise of casual callers, heard the plans of Lunsford and Jones for the morrow. ine. and had returned to dinner. who had attended a different place of worship, had not he began to feel uneasy; but his Lunsford attended church in the morn- As his companion, made his appearance, fears for his friend were soon ch terrible reality of his own situation: the door opened, and entered and arrested him, asserting, at the anged to a sense of the three men same time, that they were officers of the law (a base falsehood ). had been arrested as a runaway, and was now Jones, | led in their prison on Pratt Street, and that they also travelling under false pretences ; that They briefly stated that his companion, Lot suspected him as they had been ord examination, now, at their office. ie first story of a handsome brick ered to arrest him, that he might un- dergo an The office of the Slaters was in tl building on Pratt Street, back of which was the slave ARRESTED BY KIDNAPPERS. 107 ison. The strane : ee: sal MTR passing this establishment, as we wil one, would never suspect the unrecorded out eal which those interior walls have witnessed , slide at nee 5 victims who have issued from them aka a eee into the hopeless condition of a brief and ruel service : ais a “Fis upon the rice and cotton plantations of These ImMissaries ey ducted ee x gil trader very coolly con- Sm ane i to the ollice of their employers on the a sls esata: that he could, for jis » at least, manage his own case, and being pretty well informed as to the character of the we who were now seeking to get him into their Wd as - accompanied the men with no hesitation, and with 1 3 slight perturbation of mind; he felt indignant. and pe was determined to assume, in their presence a boll le : sypecent defence. Of course they had Rahs ie and the reasons why they had ordered his a ue had received letters informing them that as ‘ei caped from North Carolina, and he and his Reo es X= a < 11s COoInNpanion answered very closely to the descriptions sent the lhey had other evidence. leadine them to ee pi they were the identical slaves who had ese: : . : nie Closed by demanding the id Fs escaped. They man. Gunsé rd. j sed le evidence that he was a free- gaa : i » in reply, gave a plain, unvarnished 3 il LIS former position in Raleigh; the name and all the sctwal ue having purchased his freedom ; ’ circumstances leading to his present jour- hey H J * eC prom A a . produced his permit to travel, and referred them to persons in W: ; ) . : ash er " Write. ungton to whom they could He dare te dared not produce his free papers, a —s %e d} 108 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. them see his letters of introduction, as he feared they would unhesitatingly destroy them if once in their hands. He learned that they had taken from Jones his lree papers. They finally asked for his. He very pru- dently stated to them that if he was now before the proper officers of the law, who had a right to examine them, he would readily produce them, but not other- wise; if they could convince him that this was the proper place to deliver up his papers, he would not hesitate to do so. He said also that he had letters of introduction to persons in the city whom he had not yet seen; but these he was not prepared to show them. He should deliver them in the morning, and he might then convince them that he was what he stated himself to be,—a freeman. Unwilling to allow their victim to escape so easily, they suggested to him that he might leave the city before to-morrow. They furthermore stated that it had been determined to try both their cases on Monday morning, at ten A. M., before Squire Shane, and that it might be neces- sary to put him with his friend Jones, for safe-keep- ing! Lunsford stated that it was not his purpose to leave the city until his friend Jones was liberated, and his free papers restored to him. That he should be ready to accompany the proper officers to Squire Shane’s, at the hour appointed ; that till then he could be found at his boarding-house. Finding that they had made some mistake in the kind of chattel they had arrested, they concluded to defer the case until the time appointed. With some feeling of chagrin, he was allowed to depart. On returning to the boarding-house, he BY KIDNAPPERS. 109 a state of great alarm: and when ase was to be tried b ‘fore Sq juire torsook then If v AtraAws i ae 4 LUCM. LU Was notorious that en known to decide & case. no Matter w! , PY] , F ; Lter what the evidence, in favor of a colored man’s freedom. 4 It was determined, if they cou not have t} y} ICN ry Yi —_— . . : j ve case tried before some other Justice of the peace, to make : Ag ifanra ivy , F Ke the best defence thi ycould. His first duty was ] a Ts, v6 — ° : the best legal advice. On Inquiry, he found uere was only one lawyer in town who had tal aken Much interest in these cases, and who had been the Strument 5 - in- in defeating the schemes of these pled men. This man was Mr. Walch Commencing his unprinci- , at this time just career, and, with honor be it said . he wisi: . exhibited a humanity and sen se of justice, on this occa- great praise. Lunsford. in company with his friend to whom he had a note of j 810n, deservine of , Gideon Smith, : ntroduction from Mr. Gales, Called upon Lawyer Walch and made known to him the Condition of his af : fairs, submitting to his examination his Papers and letters. These were al] satisfactory. It Was, therefore, arranged that Mr. Walch should ineet heir adversaries at ten A. xm. on Monday mornine 4Unsford and his friend Gide ) | those pretended officers of Jones J on were on hand. So were / the law, with their man ‘ ] TAP - ; ; » alc. Were proceeding in ereat haste { O dispose ol cases their Ol \ } VnA , rhy . . (* snane, on looking over the papers Jones Acida, 1 . : om 8, decided that he could find in them no cortain CVida : , : . . “ence of his being a freeman: these papers may * i an ; ° art ‘ ‘ > forged, as many instances attested; he Y some one besides his friend here (Luns- 10 have been Must produc 110 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. ford), who could state upon his own authority, and from his personal know!edge, that he knew him to be a reeman. He had had too many cases of runaways t , lately and it was necessary to be more than commonly ouarded. duced, he must decide against the liberation of Jones. Unless other and stronger proof could ha ad A He was about proceeding with Lunsford’s case, and had commenced to ask some questions, when Mr. Walch came in. One glance at the assembly told Mr. Walch that these unfortunate negroes were in the hands of “unscrupulous and wicked men. He had met and thwarted their malicious designs upon other occasions, and he felt now he had a strong case. Arresting Squire Shane in the midst of his remarks, he de- manded, as the counsel of the accused, a restatement of the proceedings thus far, and an account of the evi- dence already adduced to show that these men were ] They were unable to produce a single positive é yo . AV We proof of the truth of their assumptions. He allowed the squire to proceed with the examination of Lunsford ; the substance of which varied but little from that in respect to Jones. They had received letters from North Carolina respecting escaped slaves, and the de- scription very closely corresponded to these negroes. When asked to produce these letters and description, they were not ready to comply. Lawyer Walch then commenced by giving a brief history of the many per- ] i sons of color who had recently been kidnapped and A sold into hopeless slavery; that the business had now HIS DEFENCE. 111 without being gobbled up by the most unprincipled men in the community ; that it was unsafe for them to reside on the border of the Free States, where there was great danger of being hurried by the agents of the sopllens trader from their homes and families, and consigned to involuntary servitude. In the absence, then, of any pro! that these men are runaways, let us look at the €vidence in their favor; let us examine their papers and the circumstances of their advent here. Both these men have well-authenticated free papers, — those of Lunsford showing that he was made a freeman of the of New York; they are signed by men known tO us, and have no appearance of being forged. In ad- dition to this, they give us the names of highly re pect- able gentlemen in Washington and Raleigh, also known to us, to whom we can write. They have letters from such men as the venerable Mr. Gales, of Washington, and to this gentleman present, Mr. Gideon Smith, well known in this community. Mr. Smith is also ready to testify that he knew the master of Lunsford in Raleich, and of his having purchased his freedom. Now. how had these men come into the city? Not in the night ume, crawling away under cover of the forest to es- cape the sight of men, but in broad daylight, upon one ‘ the public conveyances ; they repair to a respectable oarding-house, kept by a colored man, known in this A a his uprightness of character. This is on Satur- a Cvening. How did they spend their Sabbath ? “SOU secreted from the public, shut up in those secluded hid ino- . ‘AG - > . ia b g-places fo runaways, but they arrange their become so common that a free colored man found it al- . , "ant Eee ' . , tans, as Christians most impossible to pass safely from one State to another, » 48 Christians should, to attend the house of God 112 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. on the day set apart for his worship. They are arrested upon this day; one of them (Jones), upon his way from the house of God, is unceremoniously, and without authority, upon bare suspicion of persons interested in the slave-trade, consigned to prison, — not to the public prison, but to one of those private institutions for the safe-keeping of slaves awaiting a market. Let us look at the character of those who have made these arrests: they are not the authorized officers of the law, but agents of individuals interested in consigning free per- sons to slavery. ‘‘l forbear an expression of the abhor- rence I feel for men capable of such infamous con- duct, — deeply do I commiserate the free colored peo- ple who are so unfortunate as to be entrapped in their wiles.” By this time, Lawyer Walch had succeeded in fully establishing their right to freedom, and arousing the just indignation of all present against these wretches, who cowered beneath his eloquent and truthful denun- ciations. He showed, in the most convincing way, the unmitigated rascality of the deed which these emissaries of the slave-power meant to inflict upon the wronged and inoffensive men. Justice Shane, for once, in view of incontrovertible evidence, quietly determined to dlis- miss the case. Great was the joy of Lunsford and his companion at their liberation from the hands of these men. Had Lunsford been a man of less character and standing in the State whence he came; had he been less informed in regard to cases of kidnapping and the means used by unscrupulous men to decoy away their victims; had he been less upon his guard; had he used only a little less effort in vindication of his freedom, he his w THE LAND-SHARKS LOSE THEIR PREY. 113 and his companion would, doubtless, have been con- — to slavery for life. But, thanks to that overrul- ing Providence which had preserved him so far, he was not permitted to feel this additional sorrow. Lunsford and his companion were received by their friends at the boarding-house of Mr. Butler, after the trial, with €xpressions of joy which they could not repress. Many sympathizers were there gathered, and they spent some time in discussing all the events of the day. and called to mind the cases-of friends who had not been a ak » fortunate as they, and who had, in spite of their right to freedom, been stolen by these men and sold South; some of them they had heard from; but the great majority were beyond the region of hope or sympathy, compelled to end their days in toil unre- quited, and in a life of infamy. Lunsford and Jones _ to continue their journey as they had ional determined to remain with their friend Mr. sutler Tuesday morning. These friends meeaia ie ae 3 sy a evening 1n recounting instances of similar outrages upon their acquaintances which had occurred in late years. Luns- ford’s retentiv i rd’s retentive memory enabled him to relate many instances of enfGrc; tances of sufficient atrociousness to convict the insti- a { a barbarism unequalled in human annals he case of R ‘ ~] ‘5 ), roy ‘ 2 . : achel Parker, a free colored girl, excited much interect aki 1 interest. Sledinaihin 3 che was kidnapped,” said ‘Lunsford, a ; — of Joseph 8. Miller, of West Notting- aap by the notorious Elkton kidnapper, Oe y. ac Miller tracked the kidnappers to Bal- ’ and tried to recover the girl, but in vain. On ay hon :) > inc Y Home he was induced to leave the cars, and 10* 114 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. was undoubtedly murdered, —it is supposed in revenge for the death of Gorsuch, at Christiana. Mr. Miller s body was found suspended from a tree. A suit was eetnaalat: as you may remember, Mr. Butler,” said Luns- ford, ‘in the circuit court of Baltimore County, near where we now are, for the freedom of Rachel Parker. Over sixty witnesses from Pennsylvania attended to tes- tify to her being free-born, and that she was not the person she was claimed to be; although, in great bod: ily terror, she had, after her captivity, confessed herselt the alleved slave! So complete and strong was the evie dence in her favor that after eight days’ trial the claime ants abandoned the case, and a verdict was rendered for the freedom of Rachel, and also of her sister, Elizabeth Parker, who had been kidnapped and conveyed to New Orleans.’’ The case of Gorsuch being alluded to, some one inquired for the particulars ; as the — excited ereat interest in Baltimore at the time, Mr. Butler gave i the particulars. The incident occurred at aaa tiana, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. ‘* Edward Gor- such, represented,” said he, “by thos win knew ie as a very pious member of a Methodist Church, with his son Dickinson, accompanied by the sherifi of Lan- easter County, Pennsylvania, and by a Philadelphia oth- cer, named Henry KLINE, went to Christiana, to arrest certain slaves of his who, as he had been privately in- formed by a wretch named Padgett, were living there. An attack was made upon the house, the slave-holder declaring that he ‘ would not leave the place alive with- out his slaves.’ ‘Then,’ replied one of them, ‘ you will le 5 ae ae Many shots were fired on both not leave here alive.’ Many shots were fire MATTERS OF FACT. 115 Sides, and the slave-hunter, Edward Gorsuch >» Was killed.”’ “Not many years since,” said Lunsford, “a “ase occurred in Indianapolis which is well authenti- cated, where the poor man had even more difficulty thai vachel Parker in escaping slavery. John Free- man, a free colored man, was there seized and el aimed as the slave of one Pleasant Killington, a member of the Methodist Church of Missouri. Freeman pled self to prove that. he was not the person he wa to be. ved him- s alleged The United States marshal consented to his having time for this, provided he would go to jail and pay three dollars a day for a guard to kee Bond p him secure! s to any amount to secure the marshal against loss, if Freeman could 20 at large, were rejected. F'reeman’s counsel went to Georgia, and, after many days, ret urned With a veneral le and highly respectable gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Patillo, who voluntarily made the long Journey for the sole purpose of testifying to his knowl- edge of Freeman, and that he was well known to be free. But Freeman was still kept in jail. After sev- eral days, Ellington brought witnesses to prove Freem: in to be his slave. The witnesses and the counsel wished to have Freeman strip himself to be examined By advice of his counsel he refused. him to his cell and compelle naked. The marshal toolt d him to strip. The wit- hesses then swore that he was Ellington’ Freeman’s counse he had been |] S property. 1 then produced further evidence that : cnown as a freeman twenty years. El- lington claimed that» he had escape | from him sixteen years before. The man who did esca ve Ellineton just I : sixteen years before was discovered to be living near Se MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. Malden, Canada! Two of the Kentucky witnesses had visited and recognized him. Freeman was thereupon released, with a large debt upon him, — one thousand two hundred dollars, — which had grown up by the un- usually heavy expenses of his defence and long impris- . Freeman brought a suit against Ellington for onment. false imprisonment, laying damages at ten thousand dollars. A verdict for two thousand dollars was given in his favor, which was agreed to by Ellington’s coun- sel.’ The above incident reminded Lunsford of the case of an old acquaintance, whom in his boyhood he had ut who when quite young was sold He early achieved his freedom, known in Raleigh, | to a Virginia planter. and removed to Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, and became waiter at the Phoenix Hotel. His sad story he gleaned from his friends and from the newspapers. William Thomas, or Bill, as he was called, Lunsford described as “a tall, noble-looking, intelligent and active mulatto, nearly white.” Whilst attending to his duties as usual at the hotel, he was suddenly attacked by one Wynkoop, a deputy marshal under the fugitive slave law, and four others, three of them Virginians in search of supposed runaways. These men came suddenly from behind, knocked him down with a mace, and partially shackled him. He struggled hard against the five, shook them off, and with the handcuff, which had been secured to his rig faces of his assailants. Covered with blood, he broke ht wrist only, inflicted some hard wounds on the from them, rushed from the house and plunged in the river close by, exclaiming, “1 will be drowned rather than taken alive.” He was pursued, fired upon repeat- MATTERS OF FACT. 117 edly, ordered to come out of the water, where he stood immersed to his neck, or “ they would blow his brains out.” °He replied, “I will die first.” They then delib- erately fired at him four or five different times, the last ball supposed to have struck on his head, for his face was instantly covered with blood, and, uttering a cry, he sprang up in the water. The by-standers began to cry ** Shame!” and the kidnappers retired a short dis- tance for consultation. Bill came out of the water and lay down on the shore. His pursuers, supposing him dying, said, ‘‘ Dead niggers are not worth taking South.” Some one brought him a dry pair of pantaloons. He was helped to his feet by a colored man named Rex ; on seeing which Wynkoop and party headed him and pre- sented their revolvers, when poor Bill again ran into the river. Here he remained upwards of an hour, nothing but his head being above water, covered with blood, and in full view of hundreds who lined the banks. The atrocious character of the deed was long in penetrating the heads and hearts of these free, white American citizens. At length a few tardy preparations vere made to arrest the murderous gang, but they had departed from the town. His claimants dared not pur- Sue their victim further into the water, for, as he after- ward declared, “‘ he would have died contented could he have carried two or three of t&em down with him.’ After his pursuers had gone, Bill waded some distance ] up the stream, and was found by some women, lying upon his face in a cornfield. They carried him to a place of safety and dressed his wounds. He soon dis- appeared from Wilkesbarre, and the last heard of poor 118 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. Bill he was seeking a livelihood in one of the Canadian provinces, where this odious slave-hunting law has no existence. The demoralization to which a portion of our Christian community can descend is seen in the subs quent career of this Wynkoop, the appointed agent of the government in this transaction. This man and dw another were, not long afterward, arrested in Philadel- phia on a charge of riot, the warrant issuing from the State magistrate of Wilkesbarre, on complaint of Wil- liam C. Gildersleeve of that place. Mr. Jackson, the constable who held them in custody, was brought before Judge Grier, of the United States Supreme Court, by habeas corpus. Judge Grier, during the examination, illustrated by his conduct how a villain can be shielded from punishment under the forms of law. © “1 will not,” said the judge, ‘ have the officers of the United States harassed at every step in the performance of their du- ties by every petty magistrate who chooses to harass them, or by any unprincipled interloper who chooses to make complaints against them,— for I know some- thing of this man’ who makes this complaint. If this man Gildersleeve fails to make out the facts set forth in the warrant of arrest, I will request the prose- cuting attorney of Luzerne County to prosecute him for perjury. .... . If any tuppenny magistrate, or any unprincipled interloper, can come in and cause to be arrested the officers of the United States whenever they please, it is a sad affair. ..... If habeas corpuses are to be taken out after this manner I will have an in- dictment sent to the United States Grand Jury against the person who applies for the writ, or assists in getting MATTERS OF FACT. 119 - the lawyer who defends it, and the sheriff who serves ban writ. I will see that my officers are protected.” Ihe wickedness of this law is seen in the fact that it not only suppresses, every humane decling to help our Suuiering fellow-men, but it compels the officers of the law to arrest and shoot down defenceless human beings, whose greatest crimé against the State is that they ved freedom too much! “Ona subsequent day,’’ concluded Lunsford, “‘these prisoners were discharged, Wynkoop among the rest, the judge making this deliberate state- ment, in view of all the facts above related: ‘We are unable to perceive in this transaction anything worthy Of blame in the conduct of these officers be Mess unsuc- cessful endeavors to fulfil a most dangerous and dis- susting duty; except, perhaps, a want of sufficient cour- age and perseverance in the attempt to execute the writ.”?* Mr. Butler had been listening attentively to the above account, and, as Lunsford concluded, he pee tom his pocket a tract which he said had been handed to him a few days before by a friend of the colored peo- ple in Baltimore, who was then ehgaged in editing a weekly paper in that city, wherein he was seeking. — . cautious way, to bring the subject of emancipation -efore the people of Maryland. (This gentleman was Subsequently driven from the city bya mob.) Mr. But- ler . Tt, at the desire of : aca “os : ks : a3 e desire of all present, read, in a distinct voice, M AP ’ “MARGARET GARNER gq? aaa I : : es GARNER and seven others, occurring at Cin- Nati, Ohio, January, 1836 >— + a following thrilling . 4 lowing thrilling narrative of facts, pertaining to * See tr: 1 eer ‘We vs act on “‘ The Fugitive Slave Law and its Victims,” p. 31. ave antedated this event only twenty years; it occurred in 1856, 120 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. “Of this peculiarly painful case, we give a somewhat detailed account, mainly taken from the Cincinnati pa- pers of the day. It strikingly illustrates the manner in which, in nearlywall instances, the laws and author- ity of the Free States are swept away before those which the national government enacts in behalf of slavery, and how little protection the poor and the oppressed can expect from either. ¢ About ten o’clock on Sunday, 27th January, 1836, a party of eight slaves,—two men, two women, and four children, — belonging to Archibald K. Gaines and John Marshall, of Richwood Station, Boone County, Kentucky, about sixteen miles from Covington, escaped from their owners. Three of the party are father, mother, and son, whose names are Simon, Mary, and Simon, Jr.; the others are Margaret, wife of Simon, Jr., and her four children. The three first are the property of Marshall. and the others of Gaines. “They took a sleigh and two horses belonging to Mr. Marshall, and drove to the river-bank, opposite Cincin- nati, and crossed over to the city on the ice. They were missed a few hours after their flight, and Mr. Gaines, springing on a horse, followed in pursuit. On reaching the river-shore he learned that a resident had found the horses standing in the road. He then crossed over to the city, and after a few hours’ diligent inquiry he learned that his slaves were in a house about a quar- ter of a mile below the Mill Creek Bridge, on the river road, occupied by a colored man, named Kite. “He proceeded to the office of United States Com- missioner John L. Pendery, and, procuring the necessary MATTERS OF FACT. warrants, with United States Deputy Marshal Ellis @ind a large body of assistants, went on Monday to the place Where his fugitives were concealed. Arriving at the premises, word was sent to the fugitives to surrender. A firm and decided negative was the response. The olficers, backed by a large crowd, then made a descent. Breaking open the doors, they were assailed by the ne- SToes with cudgels and pistols. Several shots were fired, but only one took effect, so far as we could ascer- tain. ‘ 7 rf clock application was made to Jud by ge Burgoyne for a Writ of habeas corpus to bring the slaves before him = in the hands of an Ohio officer, Deputy ul Buckingham, to serve, who, : : several assistants, | 3 tion-] accompanied by roceeded to Hammond Street sta- louse, where the slaves were lodged. Mr. Deputy United States Marshal, wag them up to the State Spent parleying betwe Bennett, unwilling to give authorities, and along time was en the marshal and the sheriff’s 124 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. officers. The sheriff being determined that the writ should be executed, Mr. Bennett went out to take coun- sel with his friends. Finally, through the advice of Mayor Faran, Mr. Bennett acreed to lodge the slaves in the jail, ready to be taken out at the order of Judge Burgoyne. Mr. Buckingham obtained the complete control of the slaves. ‘On the morning of the 29th, Sheriff Brashear, be- ing advised by lawyers that Judge Burgoyne had no right to issue his writ for t Judge +5 pa s decision in the Rosetta case, made a he slaves, and remembering return on the writ of habeas corpus, that the slaves were in the custody of the (Jnited States marshal, ants therefore, without his jurisdiction. This re ‘turned 1 slaves to the custody of the marshal. By sci ary the parties permitted the slaves to remain in the county jail during that day, with the understanding that their examination should commence the next morning, before Commissioner Pendery. Thus the State of Ohio was made the jailer of these slaves. while her officer, Sheriff Brashear, lyingly iti bythe they were not within the State’s jurisdiction. An inquest had been held on the body of the child which was killed, and a verdict was found by the jury charging the death of the child upon would be held under the An @x- the mother, who, it was said, laws of Ohio to answer the charge of murder. amination took place on Wednesday before the United commissioner. ‘Time was allowed their counsel States had been brought to obtain evidence to show that they at former times by their masters. A into the State 1s was held on Thursday evening to meeting of .citize express sympathy with the alleged fugitives. MATTERS OF FACT. 125 “iiiher Cincinnati Commercial, of January 30, said, : rhe mother is of an inte resting appearance, a mu- atto of considerable intelligence of manner, and with " good address. In reply to a gentleman who yester- Gay complimented her upon the looks of her little boy, she said, “ You should have seen my little girl that — that — (she did not basa to say, was killed) — that died; that was the bird.” ; “The Cincinnati Gazette of January 30, said, We learn that the mother of the dead child ae meen edges that she killed it, and that her determination was to have killed all the children, and then destroy herself rather than return to slavery. She and the othidiee isin plain of cruel treatment on the part of their en and allege that as the cause of their att mpted escape.’ “The jury gave a verdict as follows: — ‘That said child was killed by its mother, Margaret Garner, with a butcher-knife, with which she cut its throat.’ : Two s the jurors also find that the two men, arrested as fu- Slilves, were accessories to the murder. ‘The murdered child was almost white, and was a little cirl of rare beauty.’ The examination of witnesses ay continued ey Monday, February 4th, when the commissioner bere to the arguments of counsel until the seventh. les Miho astes of a appeared for the fugitives, 7 of Cincinnati, and Mr. Finnell, : Ovington, Ky., for the claimants of the slaves. A Ra number of assistants, amounting ve ry nearly to Bares x vhs re employed by the United States mar- - Hl. Robinson, from the first, making the ex- penses ‘a 144 3 to the United States government very large ; 11* 2 126 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. for their twenty-eight days’ service alone, at two dollars per day, amounting to over twenty-two thousand dol- ars. to the three slaves of Mr. Marshall. but the decision i Februarv 8th the case closed,so far as related was postponed. ‘The examination in regard to Marga- ret and her children was further continued. It was publicly stated Commissioner Pendery had declared that he ‘would not send the woman back into slavery while a charge or indictment for murder lay against her. Colonel Chambers, counsel for the slave-claim- ants, feeling that he was outraging the moral sense of a free community, in the decision he was about to give, eagerly sought the assistance of a Northern divine, in his argument, reading long extracts from a pamphlet entitled, ‘A Northern Presbyter’s Second Letter to Min- ‘sters of the Gospel of all Denominations, on Slavery, by Nathan Lord, of Dartmouth College ;’ * he himself appreving and recommending Dr. Lord’s views. At the close of the hearing, February 14th, the commis- sioner adjourned his court to the twenty-first ; aiter- ward to the twenty-sixth, when, he said, he would give his decision. Meantime the case was making some pro- eress in the State courts. Sheriff Brashear having made return to the Common Pleas Court that the fugi- tives were in the custody of the United States marshal, Judge Carter said this could not be received as a true ret “fs control. The sheriff then amended his return so tate that the prisoners were in his custody, as re- as tO Stave : 14nNe e ls : vs ; ‘eSia is ) si ion in ‘We understand that this divine has lately seen fit to resign his posit this college. urn, as they were in the county jail, under the sher- MATTERS OF FACT. 127 quired 17 " ry ‘ 73 in the writ, and this was received by tl Ie No | TAG r ‘ o ‘ lugitives now came fully into t] \. State authorities. ie Court. 1e charge ot the ry | rhe sheriff held them <« by virtue of ra Ca Nie 4 ice ’ ‘ 7 1; Pids issued on an indictment by the Grand Jury for murder.’ Se ‘* The slaves de ‘lar | > slaves declared they would go dancine to the crs ro - . . gallows, rather than to be sent back into slavery ‘In the progress of the case it 1 avitt that the custody of tl sh | he slaves was not with ; 2 fy N10, but with the Unite. States marshal. The subse- vent arguments all tended to one ] ion of the fugitives to slavery. An effort was made by Mr. Jolliffe to save the children, but in vain. The Cin “innati Columbian, of Mebruary 29th, gave the follow- “ag account : —* The last act in the drama of the fugi- lives was yesterday performed by the rendition of | SCven blood the . in ~’ Community \fter the decisi : ; ye d ( Lit eclsion ol J doa nate Sherj ul lore Leavitt, vas decided by Judge oint, — the rendi- persons whose advent into this city, under y auspices of murder, caused such a sensation if Brashear surrendered the four fugitives in his Custody a eens tody, under a capias from an Ohio court, to United St: : States Marsha] R 3 €s Marshal Robinson. An omnibus was brought to the jail. . ugiti Jail, and the fugitives were led into it, a crowd of s late Pectators looking on. uty Marshal Brown. and dispirited. R a] : “ussell, the ane Margaret was in custody of Dep- She appeared greatly depressed The little infant, Silla, was carried | door-keeper of the United States Cow l was ecryij as cr Oo Vv ' , > 4 ‘ “i ; ying violently. Pollock, the reporter of the YCeedings jy RE 2 Oe. ae SS in the United States Court, conducted another of > 1 “ , 1 Fhe ( t! Or the fugitives, and all were safely lodged in “© Omnibus, wl 'V “t ; ich '? ‘ i ( uch drove down to the Covington lerry- 128 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. boat; but, although a large crowd followed it, no hootings or other signs of excitement or disapprobation were shown. On arriving at the Kentucky shgre, a large crowd was in attendance, which expressed its pleasure at the termination of the long proceedings in this city, The fugitives were escorted to by triumphant shouts. jail, where they were safely incarcerated, and the crowd moved off to the Magnolia Hotel, where several toasts were given and drank. The crowd outside were ad- dressed from the balcony by H. H. Robinson, Esq., United States Marshal for the Southern District of Ohio. who declared that he had done his duty and no more, and that it was a pleasure to him to perform an act that added another link to the glorious chain that bound the Union. (Whata Union! For what ‘ glori- ous’ purposes !) ‘¢¢Mr. Finnell, attorney for the claimants, said he P never loved the Union so dearly as now. It was \ proved to be a substantial reality. “Judge Flinn also addressed to she crowd one of his peculiar orations ; and was followed by Mr. Gaines, owner of Margaret and the children. After hearty cheering, the crowd dispersed. “<< Purther to signalize their triumph, the slave-hold- ers set on the Covington mob to attack Mr. Babb, re- porter for one of the Cincinnati papers, on the charge being an abolitionist, and that ventleman was ked down, kicked, trampled on, and would un- csNoOCKC!l doubtedly have been murdered. but for the interference of of some of the United States deputy marshals.’ “ On the Sunday after the delivery of the slaves, they MATTERS OF FACT, were visited in the Covington jail by Rev. P. GC. Basset i are account of his interview, especially with ae Me was published in the American Baptist, and may also be found in the National Anti-Slavery [pn ad” % March 15, 1840. Margaret confessed that she had cled the child. «1 inquired,’ says Mr. Bassett, ‘if she Were not excited almost to madness when she commit- “No,” she replied: “ Seg aes how am; and a cavemen)? hoa br as cool aa tT vee we rest of Mr. Gaines’s slaves Mr. Gaines’s slaves, had been se r : Pa ; n sent down the Ie Kansas TT _ + : S. lus 1t was that Gaines ke os ae kept his pledged » In the steamboat Henry Lewis, to be sold in Ar- that Margaret should he surrendered upon the "ay ul 3} j F , . ; : 1WUsition of the governor of Ohio! On the passage Gown the Ohi f GOP pe ies. he the Ohio, the steamboat in which the slaves were embark . C red Cs " . . e. 2 ‘ame in collision with another boat, and so Violent] > oh 3 y that Margaret and her child, with many oth- 130 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. ers, were thrown into the water. About twenty-five persons perished. Original warrant from Goy. More- » granted on the requisition of Gov. Chase) to arrest re, and had a deputy in readiness to go down for But he has received no reply to his dispatch. As She was taken out on Wednesday night, there is r to apprehend that she has al and is now on her way ft -aSOn ready passed Louisville, 0 New Orleans. Why Mr. 7 *aines brought Margaret back at all, we cannot com- prehend. If it was to vindicate his character, he was Most unfortunate in the means selected, for his duplic- ity has now placed this in a worse light than ever be- lore, and kept before the public the miserab] Of his dishonor.’ ” We have learned now, by experience, what is that asted comity of Kentucky, on which Jud S0 carnestly advises Ohio to rely. The Louisville Journal that Margaret was kept in Covington Jail “ ten days,” and that the Ohio authorities had be hotified of the same, is pronounced to be e spectacle bo ge Leavitt assertion of the en > untrue in both which paper also action was taken by the governor Vhio, and the attorney and sheriff of Hamilton 1 County, as soon as the fact was known. Here we must le. “ave Margaret; a noble woman indeed, whose heroic g : *, 7 7 . . ‘Pirit and daring have won the willing, or extorted the UNwilline g, admiration of hundreds of thousands in the land of freedom. Alas for her! After so terrible a Particulars, by the Cincinnati Gazette, declares that prompt of Strugole 2Sie, So bloody & sacrifice, so near to deliverance, Once » twice, and even ga third time, to be, by the Villany and lying of her “respectable” white owner 182 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. again engulfed in the abyss of slavery! What her fate is to be it is not hard to conjecture. But, friendless, heart-stricken, robbed of her children, outraged, she has been not wholly without friends, — “ Yea, three firm friends, more sure than day and night, Herself, her Maker, and the Angel Death.” * At the risk of too far extending the record of this most painful yet instructive case, we give the following eloquent extract from a sermon delivered in Cleveland, Ohio, by the Rev. Horace Bushnell, D. D., from the fol- lowing text : — “And it was so that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the chil- dren of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day. Consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds.” Judges xix. 30. ‘A few wecks ago, just at dawn of day, might be seen a company of strangers crossing the winter bridge over the Ohio River, from the State of Kentucky, into the great city of our own State, whose hundred church- spires point to heaven, telling the travellers that in this place the God of Abraham is worshipped, and that here Jesus the Messiah is known, and his religion of love taught and believed. And yet, no one asked them in, or offered them any hospitality or sympathy, or as- sistance. After wandering from street to street, a poor * Let us rather think of Margaret as having safely reached New Orleans, and when, in the course of time the ‘ Linkum gunboats,” drove the chivalry from those shores, Margaret was among the first to welcome the unfolding of the Stars and Stripes over the rebellious land; and, as events hastened on, the enrollment of her race begins, and we behold her, rejoicing in the day of freedom, and zeal- ous in every good work to aid the contraband soldier in his warlike toils. re 1 . their way More bitter than de; of Churche MATTERS OF FACT. 13: laboring man gave cabin, for they was known al the them the shelter of his humble were strangers and in distress. Soon it | road that this poor man had offered them eee seks Yspitalities of his home, and a “lous rabble soon gathered mandi rude and fero- around his dwelline, de- With loud clamor and horrid , they broke down his doors, and rushed u strangers. ne his guests. threatening pon 10 the They were an old man and his wile, and her husband, with four and they were of the tribe of slaves, flee bond “py their daughter hild ) children ; , ing from a age which was worse than death. NO escape,—the tribes of I them. rTy here was now srael had banded acainst On the side of the oppressor there And the young wife the iS power, : and mother into whose very soul en iron had entered, hearing the cry of . pig we'll have you all!’ turning from the side of her lusband and father with whom she had stood to repel the foe, seized a knife, and, | with a sinele | °... in eeelae ‘evered the head fr be. 8! HOW; nearly ‘ > head irom the body of her darling daugh- ‘ir > > the master, > and throwing its bloody corpse at his feet Claime r T¥ “med, ‘Yes, yo With CX- t shall have us all! take that!’ and another blow inflicted a ghastly wound upon the of her he; if, CS Tm) Oe ' . . r r beautiful son, repeating, ‘Yes, you shall ling upon her old » her in the quick work of emancipation,— there were two more. Mother coul +6 ! tf P “4 us all! take that! meanwhile cal Mother to hely for But the plous old grand- d not do it, and it was now too late,—the SCcuers ‘ ers had subdued and bound them. ves They were on ack to the house of their bondage, —a life ’ . . ath !— on their way through that city » Whose hundred spires told of Jesus and the 12 eres 2), | Pa 134 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. vw ir way ami ‘ong of vcood Father above; on their way amid the throng C ires hi aid and sung Christian men, whose noble sires had said aa o, es PT) en ‘Give me liberty, or give me death: ; a _ OMY | Tr ¢ eC ‘“ But they all tarried in the great Queen City of th , | 2 sis i ( ’s ce ere our West,—in chains, and in a felon’s cell. Th ‘ ) e : rat rr 5 candid e saw preacher visited them again and again. ‘There h i a . 2 | ; is aged companion, whose the old grandfather and his aged compani 7 weary pilgrimage of unrequited toil and tears was o , ") " a its € ‘re stood the young father, nearly at its end. And there st ee J Ee and the heroic wife ‘ Margaret.’ Said the preacher, ‘- id y dll your child?’ ‘It was my ‘Margaret, why did you kill your ch wie , sid: ‘oeiven me of God, to do the best a T she said; ‘ giv OW nN. ee © Oe) ' « 1f / ‘ t/ . best T could i other could inits behalf. Jhave done tie best kes 1 better for the rest! IL I would have done more and bette ap knew it was better for them to go home to God than \ can S < - 1 ‘ he aid ¥ ot trust in God.— back to slavery.’ ‘ But why did you not fi >) why not wait and hope! ‘1 did wait, and then we dared to do, but fled in fear and pipet hr Hope its — God did not appear to save. J did the best I coul i ‘And who was this woman? A noble, wbrrrre amiable, affectionate mother. ; But was she ans : ranved?’ Not at all,—calm, intelligent, but reso ne and determined. ‘But was she not fiendish, or ase herself with passion?’ No; she was ater tender _ affectionate, and all her passion wan that of a whe as: fondest love. ‘1 reasoned with her, = the preac wil tried to awaken a sense of guilt, and lead he és re- pentance and to Christ. But there was no Saree ” desire of pardon, no reception of Christ or his meee To her it was a religion of slavery, more crue nie death. And where had she lived? where thus taugh MATTERS OF FACT. S19) Not down among the rice swamps of Georgia, or on the banks of Red River. No ;. but within sixteen miles of the Queen City of the West! flan family of the gospel Ina nominally Chris- ’, — whose master was most liberal in support » and whose mistress was at the Lord’s table, and a professed follower of Christ! Here, in this family, where slavery €st form, she had been kept in ignorance of God’s will and Word, and learne d to know that the mildest form of American slavery, at this day of Christian civiliza- ion and democratic liberty, was worse Self. She had learned by that it was so bad a communicant is found in its mild- than death it- ah experience of many years » She had rather take the life wn dearest child, without the ho Self, than rv should experience it Which were to be here of her pe of heaven for her- S unutterable agonies found in a Christian family. But are her two little boys of eight Taking the eldest boy by the Said to him kindly and gently, — “* Come here, my boy. **¢'Tom. sir.’ ** Yes, Thomas.’ ‘No, sir, Tom.’ “* Well, Tom, how old are you?’ “*Three months.’ ts ‘And &é and ten years of aca age, hand, the preacher What is your name ?? how old is your little brother a ° SLX months, sir.’ “* And have iT 4 ‘No.’ 66 ¢ T L.< . ’ - What is your father’s name ?’ T4 TAN? * Haven’t got any.’ you no other name but Tom ?? MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. ‘¢¢ Who made you, Tom?’ 66 6 Nobody.’ *¢¢ Did you ever hear of Jesus Christ?’ ‘6 ¢ No, sir.’ ‘‘And this was slavery in its best estate. By and by the aged couple, and the young man and his wife, the remaining children, with the master, and the dead body of the little one, were escorted through the streets of the Queen City of the West, by a national guard of armed men, back to the great and chivalrous State of old Kentucky, and away to the shambles of the South,—back to a life-long servitude of hopeless despair. It was a long, sad, silent procession down to the banks of the Ohio; and, as it passed, the death- knell of freedom tolled heavily. The sovereignty of Ohio trailed in the dust beneath the oppressor’s foot, and the great confederacy of the tribes of modern Is- racl attended the funcral obsequies, and made ample provision for the necessary expenses! ‘*¢And it was so that all that saw said, There was no such deed done nor seen, from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day. CONSIDER of it, take advice, and speak your minds.’ ”’ CHAPTER VIII. * After long storms and tempests overflowne, The Sunne at length his joyous face doth cleares So when as Fortune all her spight hath showne, Some blissful hours at last must needes apppeare; Else should afflicted wights ofttimes despeire.’ Oo HIs MISSION TO THE NORTH SUCCESSFUL~-PROCEEDS TO RA-~ LEIGH FOR HIS FAMILY —IS SEIZED— HIS TRIAL — HONOR ABLE DISCHARGE —THE MOB, LIKE HOUNDS, PANT FOR HIS BLOOD—AN EVENTFUL NIGHT—TAR AND FEATHERS — THE HOME OF FREEDOM AT LENGTH REACHED. VHNUE reader may as well be assured here as at any { other time, that the narrative here given to the public is a statement of matters of fact, either received from the lips of Mr. Lane himself, or from information Possessed by the compiler by a residence in the South, or drawn from well-authenticated documents. Some- times conversations are introduced which were not in the exact lancuage stated. An example of this kind the reader had in the last chapter. All the circum- Stances of the attempt to kidnap took place as stated at the time and place. No fictitious names are given. h) . . . > . Even the intelligent proprietor of the colored boarding- house in Baltimore, Mr. Butler, may be still living and Pursuing his business. The only variation being in the Class of facts introduced in the conversation at Butler’s house. ] etween Lunsford and his friends. on the evening Of the day of men. their liberation from the hands of wicked rt. . -: o Che statements there introduced are entirely re- 12* 137 38 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. liable; so much so as to form valuable material for a future history of the iniquities of the infamous law for the rendition of fugitive slaves. We call it infamous, because it was the means, while it could be enforced, of sending many innocent human beings into the bondage of Southern slavery, who had as good a title to freedom as any of the citizens of Massachusetts. It was natural that Lunsford and his friends should recall the many instances of kidnapping that had come o their knowl- edge, although these might be different cases from those related. Lunsford had now fairly triumphed over the evil designs of the slave-catchers of Baltimore, and in doing so had made some friends upon whom he could rely in future, as he might be compelled to pass through the city frequently before he had completely rescued his family from slavery. Lunsford and his companion, Jones, passed on to Philadelphia, without further moles- tation. Here he delivered letters of introduction to several individuals, who listened with some interest to his statements. He made the acquaintance of Mr. Cauthen, the Philadelphia philanthropist, who had, by his personal efforts, but lately rescued three colored men who had been kidnapped and sold into slavery. From this gentleman he learned that a very important meeting was to be held in New York, of sympathy for several persons who had in a similar manner to the above escaped the “gins and traps” of the soulless slave- trader. As this meeting was to be held in a few days, he hastened on, leaving his friend Jones to care for himself by his own industry in Philadelphia. He found no difficulty in obtaining a hearing at this mectine, and © HIS MISSION TO THE NORTH SUCCESSFUL. 139 the assurance that he micht re ly upon securing the pe- cuniary aid needed, by a little industry in his personal applications. With this assurance, he hastened back lo Raleigh to make his appearance at the next session of the court, and to wind up his affairs, if his final departure from the State. bered that Lunsford had really only Main in the State after the I ' possible, for It will be remem- twenty days to re- first notification, and yet he ‘mained beyond that time. rely 1g upon the influence of Mr. Battle and other friends. On reaching Raleigh, Lunsford consulted with lawyer and the prosecuting attorney as t best his o the course to pursue. Their advice was that if he would leave the State , and pay the costs of the court. the case J Should be dropped, so that h is bondsmen should not be involved. J Lunsford, knowing the prejudice against him, concluded to stay as lone as he could, settle up his . affairs, and leave. He determined to make as ear- » an appeal as he could to the friends of the colored Man in the North, for assistance. and he h Hest ad some hope that in this way he might be successful. He had now paid Mr. Smith six hundred and twen{ dollars : do] had be - he had a house and lof worth five hundred LULL Of lars, which he had agreed to take when the balance sn raised. Before leaving, Mr. Smith gave & bill of sale of one of his children, Laura. in consid- e him “ration of two hundred and This chila he determined to take with him to the North. Lhe “osts of the court which he had ¢ ove case amounted to between thirty and forty dol- , ; a} ng fn alice . 4 ; Which drew heavily upon his now contracted fifty dollars already paid. O meet in the 140 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE, pS means. On the 18th of May, three days after the court commenced its session, he bade adieu to his friends in Raleigh, and set out for the city of New York. He was furnished with several letters of introduction from friends in Raleigh, each speaking in high commenda- tion of his uprightness of conduct, and commending his case to the generous sympathy of others. One of them was from Mr. John Primrose, a highly respectable man; one from Mr. Battle, which was of great service to him. He took also a letter from the church of which he was a member, together with such other papers as related to his affairs. He also received the following certificate : — “Rareian, N. C., May, 1842. “The bearer, Lunsford Lane, a free man of color, for some time resident in this place, being about to leave North Carolina, in search of a more favorable location to pursue his trade, has desired us to give him a certifi- cate of his good conduct heretofore. We take pleasure in saying that his habits are temperate and industrious, that his conduct has been orderly and proper, and that he has for these qualities been distinguished among his caste. ‘“ WituiAM HILL, ‘Weston R. GALES, “©. L. Hinton, “RR. SMITH, ‘©, DEWEY.” He took good care to see that the above was officially certified to, in the usual form, by the clerk of the court of common pleas and quarter sessions. Thus fortified with documents, he proceeded to New HIS MISSION TO THE NORTH SUCCESSFUL. 141 , York. ‘i i. . fo} " Although his success was at first small, he soon ell into the hands of flere, : two friends, who generously of- ns ' to raise him three hundred dollars. provided he should lirst obtain from other sources the balance of ; Ati required, which balance would be one thousand “nd el; Thus encouraged, he proceeded to sha, 4 where the intelligent and discriminating philan- a Py of the people, in a very brief space of time, en- ®dled him to | reach the sum required. Lunsford not . Be he atic. met Y expres sed his thanks personally to these friends for ] Her q Honcc ‘ >. . kindness, and the many ways in which they aided him j " —_ ee ae P nh introduc ing him to others, but on publie ocea Sons he has take) leasure } : ‘ nie 7 has taken pleasure in bearing testimony to Heir fey ry : sh r kindness of heart toward the oppressed If it Vere ‘ 7s . . . ’ ° . proper, and the limits of this publication would permit. “On the have he would gladly have their names recorded. he . ; > » hich oth of February, finding that I should soon l] PMA Bind? 42 . , 1 my possession the sum needed for the purchase my familv :; eve ' ny family, and fearing that there might be danger Q Visiting 7 — the sf of 4 aleigh for that purpose, in consequence of hes ae opposition of many of the citizens against ng, eo color, and especially as they had already as rei 7. “A oan to me in persecuting me from the A ta i ~ emith, requesting him to see iit the — and obtain, under his hand, a permit to © State for a sufficient time to accomplish the I requested Mr. Smith to publish the permit Or tw< ae v0 of the city papers, and then to enclose the bus iness In One rr. . vente lo this letter he replied in a week or » alter its reception. It was as follows: — ntl 7 “+ UNSFoRD: Y 5th 4 “FORD: Your letter of the 5th instant came 142 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. duly to hand, and in reply I have to inform you that, owing to the absence of Governor Morehead, 1 cannot send you the permit you requested; but this will make no difference, for you can come home, and after your arrival you can obtain one to remain long enough to settle up your affairs. You ought of course to apply to the governor immediately on your arrival, before any malicious person would have time to inform against you. I don’t think by pursuing this course you need apprehend We are all alive at present, in Ra- leigh, on the subjects of temperance and religion. We have taken into the temperance societies about five hundred members, and about fifty persons have bee happily converted. The work seems still to be spreading, and such a time I have never before seen in my life. Glorious times, truly! So try to get all the religion in your heart you possibly can, for it is the only thing worth having, after all. “<¢ Yours, &c., “cB, B. SMIvTH.’ ” The date of this letter is in February, 1842, at which time the Washingtonian Reformation was making great advances in the United States, rescuing thousands from their thraldom to this insidious and ruinous vice. The reader is referred, for fuller particulars, to the history of this reform as recorded in the life and labors of John H. W. Hawkins, who, it will be seen, in a year or two after, made a tour through all the Southern States. By his faithful labors thousands were saved from the drunkard’s miserable doom. His labors in Raleigh were attended with his usual success. But to return HIS MISSION TO THE NORTH SUCCESSFUL. to Lunsford. The way now seemed, in a measure, Opened for his safe return. Certainly, he argued, that, in a community all alive to the subject of religion and temperance, where he had lived and labored faithfully In“ that state of life into which it had pleased God to call him,” he ought to expect kind treatment, and re- ceive protection from the designs of evil men. Still lecling some distrust as to the assurances of Mr. Smith, his wife’s master, who might, after all, have a pecuniary Interest in his speedy return to Raleigh, he hesitated to leave without a written permit from the governor. Desiring, therefore, to use every precaution, he ad- dressed another letter to Mr. Smith, and received, Under date of March 12th, a reply, from which we “opy the following: — ‘The governor has just re- turned, and I called upon him to get the permit, as you requested, but he said he had no authority by law to g ‘ant one ; and he told me to say to you that you might “t perfect safety come home, in a quict manner, and re- main twenty days without being interrupted. I also “onsulted Mr. Manly (a lawyer), and he told me the Same thing. Surely you need not fear anything Under these circumstances. You had. therefore, better come on just as soon as possible.” The life of Lunsford had been so checkered and un- Certain thus far, that he felt, even now, some distrust as - his future reception in Raleigh. He determined, ‘herefore, to conduct himself with all the discrectness Possible, and refrain from doing anything that might “Xcite the jealousy even of the poor white man. So little is done at the South to elevate this class that it 144 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. sometimes happens that slaves owned by wealthy and intelligent masters far surpass them in learning and re- finement of manners. Instead of ischarging their against the institution that has erievous evils. they content themselves assaults upon the unoffending , Who rises in spite of his chains. Nothing but m and tempest of revolution, where the sword d upon to arbitrate, can break the delusion and clear our moral heavens from these prejudices against color. In the season of adversity the people learn wis- dom. ‘On the 11th of April I felt happy; it was the noon-time of my varied life; I had raised the amount requisite for the deliverance of my wife and children. 1 remembered well the day of my own emancipation, and I ceased not to rejoice in my freedom. I could al- most anticipate the feelings of my wife : | ones God had given me, their fect at " . re) . the Iree soil Ol Massacel up to God the incense In my inmost soul I felt that I was w ‘favors so great. J] could trace his hand in every event of my past life. He had not forsaken me, and I even now reproached myself for any tendency in my heart to distrust him in the future. For myself I could only say, — in; my toneue cannot impart nost drunkenness of heart, irst this liberated eye Surveyed earth, ocean, sun. and sky As if my spirit pierced them through, And all their inmost wonders knew ! PROCEEDS TO RALEIGH FOR HIS FAMILY. One word alone can paint to thee That more than feeling, —I was free / r VW . > > The world, — nay. heaven itself, — was mine!’ ‘OW: . ost * With these high hopes, I left Boston on my way to > . . val an cigh, intending to pay over the money for my family l return with them to Boston, which ] designed should be my Iw Ww future home. There I had found friends, and there as Willing to labor, and there I would find a erave. I “8 how about to visit my old home.in the he last time, and little did I dream that I] thrust rudely from its portals. Certainly, I thoug 4ssurance received from the governor, who knew me _--» through Mr. Smith, was sufficient to protect me In this las t visit to the place of my birth and boyhood, Where J . had toiled as a slave and a freeman, and, finally. as waiter upon the governors of the common- Wealth. : [ had faithfully discharged my duties: ] en I had deserved their respect. With these ‘Oughts, and. the bright anticipation of again joining My fami). ’ 1) family »1 departed for Raleigh, passing through Bal- “more, rived in Was 8 —on this occasion without molestation. I ar- Raleigh on the twenty-third of the month. It aurday, about four o’clock in the alternoon, upon @ pleasant day in April, ! onee more found myself They were anxiow: ly look- = “Me, and yet they hardly dared to hope for their With < oO an ; : . inate freedom. It was sweet to spend the hours ay them, after so long an absence, ~~ 4n absence fil] ed with so much of interest to me and to them. tT had been in ¢ perils by mine own country- 13 eres 2) |) ) 8 ee 146 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANR. men,’ and out of them al] the Lord had delivered me. My family were still where ] could Y reach them, and perhaps save them from a life of servitude. Although there were a thousand thines that I wished to say re specuing my Northern visit, I dared not utter them even to my wife. I therefore kept quiet and humbled my- self. I mused in my own heart and was still. My bus- iness being delayed until the beginning of the week, I was making ready on Monday morning early to com- plete the business, of the purchase of my family. I was about starting for Mr. Smith’s store, where it had been arranged I should meet him, when, between eight and nine o’clock. two constables entered, — Mur- ray and Scott, — accompanied by two other men, and Summoned me to appear immediately before the police. I accordingly accompanied them to the City Hall; but, in their eagerness to crush me. they had arrested me too early in the day for the tardy magistrates and their attendants; the hall was locked, and the officers could not, at the moment, find the key. We were told that the court would be held at the store of Mr. Smith, a large and commodious room. This is what is termed in common phrase in Raleigh, and I had heard the term used by members of the Legislature, a ‘call court.’ The mayor, Mr. Loring, presided, assisted by William Boyden and Jonathan Busby, Esqs., justices of the peace. A large number of people had gathered, and J] immediately found myself the centre of considerable interest; there were more. indeed, than could obtain admission to the room, and a large crowd of turbulent spirits gathered about the door, thirsting for my blood. IS SEIZED — HIS TRIAL. 147 Mr. Loring read the writ, setting forth that I had been guilty of delivering abolition lectures in the State of Massachusetts. ‘* He asked me whether I was guilty or not guilty. Retaining my self-possession, ] replied that I did not know whether I had given abolition lectures or not: but if it pleased the Court, I would relate the course I had pursued during my absence from Raleigh. He then said I was at liberty to speak for myself. ‘The circumstances under which I left Raleigh, I said, “are perfectly familiar to you all. It is well known that I had no desire to re- move from this city, but resorted to every lawful means to remain, while in pursuit of an honest calling. Find- ing that I could not be permitted to stay, | went away, leaving behind everything I held dear, with the excep- tion of one child whom I took with me, after paying two hundred and fifty dollars for her. You are well aware that previous to this I was a slave. the property of Mr. Sherwood Haywood, and after many years of faithful labor purchased my freedom by paying the sum of one thousand dollars. It is also known to you, and to many other persons here present, that I had engaged to purchase my wife and children of their master, Mr. Smith, for the sum of twenty-five hundred dollars, and that I had paid of this sum, including my house and lot, eleven hundred and twenty dollars, leay- ine a balance to be made up of thirteen hundred and eighty dollars. I could have made up this amount, had I been permitted to remain here. But, being drive away for no crime of which I am conscious, no longer permitted to raise the balance due for the liberation of my family, my last resort was to call upon the friends r places to assist me. J] went to nm, and there I related the story of my lere, in the same manner of humanity In othe the city of Bost persecutions | that I now state them to you. The people gave a patien f hearing to my Statements, and one of them, the Rey. Dr. Neale, aleigh, unknown to me, to Mr. Smith. inquir- the statements ter Dr. Neale received he sent for me, informed made by me were Mr. Smith’s reply, of his having written and read to me this reply. ) fetter fully satisfied Dr. Neale and his friends. marking that it ‘e do away the necessity of using the other documents in my posses- sion. I then, with that letter in my hands, went from house to house, calling upon persons at their places of business, going from church to church. relating, gain an of my wrongs to which ] Whenever I could ear, the same sad story am now referrine you. In pursuing that course. the kind people generously came forward and contributed. the poor as well as the rich, until I had succeeded in raising the whole amount, namely, thirteen hundred and eighty dollars. ] may abolitionists; but I did not stop to ask those who assisted have had contributions from me whether they were I was too thankful to and it was immat anti-slavery or pro-slavery. ret rial whence it came if it would only accomplish the obje the money, ct I had in view. These are the simple facts as to the manner of my proceeding in the Northern States; and now, sir, I humbly ask Whether such a course can be construed into the charge HIS TRIAL. 149 made against me,—that I have been giving abolition lectures ?? ‘“‘In the course of these remarks, [ presented the letter of Mr. Smith to the Rev. Dr. Neale, of Boston, showing that I had acted the open and honest part while in Mas- sachusetts. I also referred to my having written to Mr. Smith, requesting him to obtain for me the permit of the governor; and I showed the court Mr. Smith’s letters in reply, in order to satisfy them that I had the promise of the governor, that I should be unmolested in Raleigh, until I had time to settle up my business and return to the North. Mr. Lorine then whispered to some of the leading men; after which. he remarked that he saw nothing in what I had done, according to may own statement, implicating me in a manner worthy of notice. He then called upon any person present, Who might be in possession of information tending to disprove what I had said, or to show any wrong on my part, to produce it ; otherwise, I should be set aj liberty. No person responding to his remarks, I was thereupon discharged. I was starting to leave the house, and had nearly reached the door, when I was met by Mr. James Litchfield, who touched me upon the shoulder, and J followed him into the back part of the store. He has- tily informed me, from what he knew of the temper of the mob outside, that, if I went out of that room, in less than five minutes I would be a dead man. They were waiting, he said, like hounds, to drink my blood. Mr. Loring, who I think was really a friend, but pow- erless in this instance to render me any assistance, spoke to me again, and said, notwithstanding I had been 13* 150 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. found guilty of breaking no law, yet public opinion was law; and he advised me to leave the place the next day; otherwise, he was convinced I should have to suffer death. I replied, ‘not to-morrow, but to-day.’ He answered that I could not go that day, as I had not yet accomplished the object of my return. I said I was willing to trust my business in his hands and to several other gentlemen like himself, assured that they would not see me wronged. I mentioned several names, sue- gesting that they could settle matters for me with Mr. Smith, pay over my money, and send my family to meet me in Philadelphia. This was finally concluded upon, and a guard was appointed to conduct me to the depot. I had succeeded in reaching a seat in the ears, when the mob that had followed surrounded me, and declared that the cars should not go, and that I should not be permit- ted to goin them. Mr. Loring, fearing the worst. came along into the cars, and inquired of the mob what they wanted of me. He said to them that there had been a fair examination, and nothing had been found against me; that they were present at the investigation, and in- vited to speak if they knew any reason why I should be condemned ; but that they had remained silent, and that now it was but right that I should be permitted to de- part unmolested. ‘They replied that they wanted a more thorough investigation ; that they wished to search my trunks (1 had but one) and see if I was not in the pos- session of abolition papers. This species of evidence is all-powerful with the Southern rabble. When al] other proofs fail, a scrap of paper bearing this stamp, wrapped about a pair of old shoes, has proved the death-warrant THE MOB PANT FOR HIS BLOOD. 151 to many unsuspecting travellers in the Southern domin- ions! It had now become evident from the temper of the crowd, that I would not be allowed to leave in the cars, and my friends advised me, as a means of safety, tO go the shortest Way possible to jail ! The mob ap- peared terribly enraged, and seemed to thirst for my blood. The whole city, indeed, was in ah uproar. But I found my friends were among the most respectable and wealthy men in the place; and I have no doubt these few did all in their power to protect me. Mr. Boylan, whose name has frequently been mentioned in the course of the narrative, acted toward me the part of a father. Mr. Smith and Mr. Loring, and many other gentlemen, whose names it would be a pleasure to mention, were exceedingly kind to me, and felt no other feelings than indignation toward my senseless per- secutors. . “The guard then conducted me through the mob to the prison. I felt joyful that even a prison could now protect me from these villains in human form. ‘‘ Looking from my prison-window, I could see my trunk in the hands of officers Johnson, Scott, and others, who were taking it to the City Hall for exami- nation. I learned afterward that they broke open my trunk, and as the lid flew up, the mob cried out, ‘A paper, a paper!’ A number seized it at once, as hun- gry hounds after a panting fugitive in the Southern swamps. ‘They set up a yell of wild delight, and one young man of profligate character, a son of one of the I@st respectable families in the place, glanced toward may prison-window, and by signs and words expressed 52 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. his gratification. But their triumph was but for a moment. ‘The paper was unrolled, and it was found to be one printed in Raleigh, and edited by Weston R. Gales, a very nice man, it is true, but one far from being suspected of holding abolition sentiments. The only other printed or written thing found in the trunk were some business cards of a firm in Raleigh, which had been handed me for distribution ; but these were not considered incendiary ! Shortly afterward I saw Messrs Scott and Johnson lugging my carpet-bag in the same direction my trunk had gone. This also was opened at the City Hall, and found actually to contain a pair of old shoes and a pair of old boots; but they did not pronounce these incendiary. Mr. Smith at length came to the prison ahd informed me that the examination had been completed ; and, although nothing had been found against me, it would not be safe for wie to leave the prison immediately. It was thought best that 1 should remain in prison until after niehtfall, and then steal secretly away, being let out by the keeper, and pass unnoticed to the house of my old and tried friend, Mr. Boylan. Accordingly, between nine and ten o'clock I was discharged. I went by a back way leading to Mr. Boylan’s residence. But I had hardly started on my perilous journey, when suddenly a large company of men sprang upon me, and before I had time to make any resistance, I found myself completely in their possession. They conducted me rudely, at times above the ground, and sometimes I was dragged alone; but they moved as silently as possible in the direction of the gallows, which, at the time Iam now speaking of, was AN EVENTFUL NIGHT. always kept standing upon the common, or, as it was termed, ‘ the Pine,’ or the ‘Old Pine Field.’ ‘¢ | now expected to be hurried suddenly into the world of spirits. I endeavored to calm myself as much as I could in that awful hour. JI thought of that unseen region to which I was hastening. Now, ] thought, I was to test the value of that religion which I had professed before men. I felt that I could trust in the great re- demption, which had been secured for me, and for all men, in the death of my Saviour. He had suffered a violent death for me, and should I shrink from meeting him now?’ And yet when my mind reverted to the world and to my dear family, I dreaded to leave them. What would become of my wife and children. after all the labor I had made to redeem them from bondage ? Although I had secured money sufficient to pay for them, according to the aereement made, it seemed inev- itable, should I leave them, that some unfeeling white man would obtain it, and they be left to die in slavery, and the effort of a large part of my life spent in vain. Then the thought of my own death would again rush into my mind, and I was overwhelmed in the solemn vy © contemplations of eternity. I tried to pray. *O God” | cried in my inmost soul, ‘deliver me from the hands + of these wicked men!’ At length I observed that those who were carrying me changed their course a little irom a direct line to the gallows. A hope, a faint elim- mering sprang up within ; but then, as they were taking me to the woods, I thought their intention was to mur- der me there. In such a place they would be less likely to be interrupted than in a spot so exposed as the 154 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. field upon which the gallows stood. Having conducted me to a little elevation covered with wood, they set me down. ‘** Now,’ said they ‘we want you to tell us the truth about those abolition lectures you have been giving at the North.’ “I thought I detected in the tone and manner of this demand that they were not quite up to the des- perate courage of taking my life. And yet [ replied as if death was in view. I said that I had related truthfully the circumstances before the court in the morning, and I could only repeat to them what I then said. “* But that was not the truth. Now tell us the truth ! ’ ‘1 replied that any different story would be false, and and if I must then die, and whatever they might think I would say in other circumstances, I would not pass into the other world with a lie upon my lips. One of them said, — “¢ Well, Lunsford, you were always, when you were here, considered a clever fellow, and I did not think you would be engaged in the mean business of making abolition addresses at the North.’ “Several others made similar remarks in a sort of apology for not resorting to extreme measures with me. [ replied to them that the people of Raleieh had alw Lys maintained that the abolitionists did not believe in ex- pending much money in buying slaves; but contended that their masters should free them without pay. For myself, my simple object was the purchase of my fam- TAR AND FEATHERS. 155 ily, and I had labored to do so, without considering the character or the opinions of the persons I approached. I had no time to enter into any league with abolitionists, and from my past conduct they certainly could not sup- pose that | would. After this and other conversation of a like kind, they became tired of « questioning me. They at length had a consultation in a low whisper among themselves. Then a bucket was brought, and set down by my side ; but what its contents, or for what object intended, I was unable to divine. But. in a mo- ment, one of the number came forward with a pillow, and instantly a great weight was lifted from my mind. A flood of light and even joy sprang up within me. I felt now the crisis in this eventful night’s experience had passed. They commenced stripping me, until every rag of clothes was removed. Then the bucket was brought near, and I felt relieved when I found it contained tar. One man whom I knew to be a journeyman printer of the place was the first to dip his hands into the tar, and was about passing them over my face. Mr. Wil liam Andres, of Raleigh, may wish to see his name in print, and sol record it. Burns, a blacksmith in the place, arrested his arm, saying, — ““* Don’t put any in his face and eyes.’ ‘“‘He thereupon desisted. But he, with three other . ‘chivalrous gentlemen,’ whose names I cannot recall, gave me, what I suppose they were gratified to behold, —a complete coat of tar, sparing only my face, The ripping open the pillow at one end, they held it over my head and commenced applying its contents to the tarred portions of my body. I have no doubt I was 156 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LAND. well tarred and feathered. affording to these well-bred gentlemen another means for the exhibition of < South- ern sports.’ A fine escape, thought I, from hanging, provided they do not set fire to the feathers. I had some fear they would. ‘These dignified labors h: iwving been completed, they gave me my clothes, and one of them. to my surprise, handed me my watch, which he had carefully kept in his hands. ; “They all expressed great interest in my welfare, advised me to proceed with my business the next d: ay, told me to stay in the place as long as I chose, and, with words of like consolation. bade me posddiehe? They felt that they had now degraded me to a level beneath themselves. Of course ] hastened to my fam- ily as soon as roma eee They had: become ae ence, but somewhat heed ssed it. the isd p ieht ] pre- sented. Shall I say it? Some of the persons who had participated in this outrage came into my house, influ- enced, probably, by : curiosity to witness the mode of removing a coat of tar and feathers. They were now lavish with their ec of sympathy for me; they even regretted that the affair had taken place; that they had uo objection to my living in Raleigh, or ] might feel periectly safe in going out to transact my business. paratory to leaving ; I should not be molested. while, Mr. Boylan and other friends, underst: that ] had been discharged from prison aa ing that I did not come to them according to agree- ment, became alarmed, and had commenced a regular LEAVES FOR THE NORTH. 157 search for me, on foot and on horseback. They ex- plored the suburbs, and everywhere they supposed I might be. Hearing that I was in the hands of a mob, Mr. Smith called upon the governor to obtain his off- ial interference. Shortly after my return, a guard came to my house, but I chose not to risk myself, even in my own home. I therefore went to Mr. Sinith’s, where this guard kept me safely until morning. They seemed friendly, — indeed, many of them being among’ the best citizens in town. My friend, Mr. Battle, the late private secretary to Governor Morehead, was one of them. He made an address to them, setting forth some incidents in my past life, the good conduct I had always exhibited, my services in connection with the governor’s office, and the faithful manner with which I had discharged my duties there. In the morn- ing, Mr. Boylan, true as ever in his friendship, and with great kindness of heart, assisted me in arranging my business, so that I might start with my family that day for the North. Leaving in this hurried manner, I was compelled to sacrifice much of my property. While at the North, some malicious persons had removed from the wood-lot all the wood that I had cut and corded, for which I expected to receive over one hundred dol- lars, thus relieving me of the trouble of its sale, or of being burdened with its care. I was compelled to sub- mit to many other pecuniary losses, but these I was content to count as nothing, compared with the bless- ing of our liberation. ‘In our preparation for departure, Mr. Boylan fur- nished us with provisions more than sufficient to sus- 14 158 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. tain the family to Philadelphia. Here we abide fora time. He even se ‘ our baggage to the d Arran bee ‘ed to accept. ‘The emotions experienced at the mome a child. My of my former mistress, Mrs. Haywood. to start at ten o’clock in the morning, and I ¢alled s I could on Mrs. Haywood, where my motl now advanced in years, was early a oni staying. My old mistres > her mind reverted to the past, —my faithfulness to a and to her children gles and persecutions. was affected to tears , my strug- In late years she had been kind learned, she and her daughter, Mrs. Hogg, then present at hey to me, and, as I the ‘house, had sent a note to the court before which I was trie d, representing th: ut, conduct from my youth up, they could not believe me to be In consequence of my good guilty of any offence. tachment for me they could not re- press, and with tears,—the ofispring, as I And now, with an at believe, of genuine sympathy »—they gave me thei ir parting blessing. My mother was now called n, that I might bid her a final farewell. I was her tiny child, and I had no hope of seeing her again in this world. Our old mistress could not witness this scene of our parting unmoved. Unable to repress her feeling > longer, she decided, my infinite joy, that my mother should go with me. ‘Take her, Lunsford, and care for her as I know you intended to sent his wagon to convey epot, offering also to send his car- lor my family, but another friend. Mr. Malone, en before him in this kind offer, which I had nt of parting from my friends almost unmanned me, and I cried like poor mother was stil] alive, and the slave ry oe Che cars were THE HOME OF -FREEDOM AT LENGTH REACHED. 159 will as a dutiful son. Should you ever become able to pay me two hundred dollars, you may; otherwise it shall be my loss.’ The following paper was immediately drawn up; it is in the ordinary form of a pass: — ‘RALEIGH, N. C., April 26, ——. ‘Know all persons by these presents, That the beare of this, Clarissa, a slave, belonging to me, hath my per- mission to visit the city of New York with her relations, who are in company with her; and it is my desire that she may be protected, and permitted to pass without molestation or hindrance, on good behavior. ‘Witness my hand, this 26th day of April. ‘ELEANOR Haywoop. ‘Witness, —J. A. CAMPBELL.’ ‘Leaving Mrs. Haywood’s, I called upon Mrs. Badger, another daughter, and wife of Judge Badger, skvoili mentioned. She seemed equally affected, and wept she gave me her parting counsel. She and her sister, Mrs. Hogg, and I were once children together, engaging in the same sports, in the ample play-ground around the old mansion. We knew then but little of the different conditions of our birth; not then had we learned that they were of a superior and I of a subject race. In those days of childhood there were pencillings made upon our young hearts which time and opposite futures could not all efface. I trust these dear friends may never be slaves as | have been; nor their bosom com- panions and their little ones be in nue: like mine. The hour was now rapidly arriving when the cars were to start. The whole town seemed to be gathered at the eres |) 2), |), | Pa % - 16 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANR. depot, and, among the rest, those turbulent spirits who, indignities they had already he aped upon me, appeared determined that my final departure should not be peaceable. Apprehendii g this, Mr. Boy- arranged with my friends and the conductor that my family py be put in the ears, and that I should go out of 1e city by some secluded unsatisfied with the j lan and others had street, and, having | gone a sa or two, pass over to the track and be taken up as they passed. The mob. sup- posing that I was lef behind, at leneth permitted cars to depart. Mr. Whiting, one of the agents of the road, kindly aided us in the purchase of our tickets, and protected us from being molested, as far as Pet tersbure, 0 he was going. 1 his | 2aVine, Captain Guion, valeigh » performed the same kind of — . Here we were izen of Philade I phia fice as far as placed in the care of a cit- » who protected us quite out of the confines of slavery into the land of freedom. Ty he mal- 4atcy ice of my enemies did not vease upon my entering the Cars upon the road out of valeigh. Kivkham, a tin- ware worker, whom I identified as being one of the mob, I found was a fellow -passenger, and at every sta- tion at which the cars stopped he would rush out and > the people at the station to drag me from the cars, and in vied nt language denounce me is an instigator of in; urrection and a ne, from the North. My fri¢ al endeavor to exciti 2TO abolitionist ends, howeve r, were more influ- ential than this excitable individual, and we passed on unharmed. “We had only one misfortune. and that was the los- most of our valuable cloth- ing of a trunk containing THE HOME OF FREEDOM AT LENGTH REACHED. 161 ing. This we have never been able to recover, but fer lives are spared to rejoice in our freedom. : W hen my feet pressed the pavements of Philadelphia, with my family around me, consisting of nine dependent beings, with my money nearly expended, and with nothing to depend upon but, my two hands, I still felt happy; I felt as though I was in a new world. I could now draw a long breath, and inhale, without let or hindrance, the pure atmosphere of freedom.” 14* CHAPTER IX. “If we have whispered truth, Whisper no longer; Speak as the tempest does, Sterner and stronger; Still be the tones of truth Louder and firmer, Startling the hau thty South With the des Pp murmur: God and our charter’s right, Freedom forever! Truce with oppression, — Never! oh, never!” ——_oo—_—_—. MR. SMITH’S PECUNIARY ENGAGE MENTS — VARIOUS INCIDENTS IN A SOUTHERN P ASTOR’S LIFE~ SHOOTING A SLAVE—A SAD FUNERAL—THE PLANT ATION NEAR T. \RBORO’—IMPROVIDENC i; OF SLAVES— CLOSE OF LUNSFORD’S LIFE IN THE SOUTH. . incidents of the last chapter are so closely eon- nected with the well-be ine of Lunsford that sey- eral individuals alluded to ip this narrative deserve a further notice. Mr. Smith had, no doubt, some inter- est— a pecuniary one —in Lunsford’s sa lety. Should the aay unfortunate ly make w: ay with him, it would | an unpleasant matter to dispose of the thirteen hewasia dollars brought from the North. Jt would be inhuman- ity to send a widow and seven orphan children to the liu / North, inexperienced as they were, to gain a livine, with all the prejudices against their color. Pondering upon these things, Mr. Smith felt very uneasy until he found Lunsford under a safe guard in his own house. He was much in need of funds. and had rendered Lunsford all the aid in his power by writing complimen- 162 MR. SMITH’S PECUNIARY ENGAGEMENTS. tary letters to the friends of the slave in Boston, con- firming his statements, and urging the humane people to give liberally of their means. Lunsford had at length procured the needed fun ls, but was unwilling to transmit the money, fearing that his family might, un- der some pretext, be still retained in bo: ndage. Now, that Mr. Smith really needed this mone y, is a fact quite apparent in the last note he addressed to Lunsford. It is as follows : — *“ RALEIGH, December 2d. *¢ LUNSFoRD LANE, — “Dear Sir: I wrote you some time ago, but have received no answer; perhaps you did not reccive my letter. If so, you are excusable for not replying. In yours, of September last, you stated that in some short time, provided I would write to certain gentlemen in Boston, confirming statements you had made to them in reference to yourself, your family, and the object of your visit to Boston, you would send me one thousand dollars or upwards. I did write, as you requested, and confirmed in substance all that you had said to them ; but I have not had a line either from yourself or those gentlemen since. Upon the statement made by you I ventured to make some moneyed engagements, in com- plying with which I should dislike exceedingly to fail. These will be due in fifteen or twentv days, and if you possibly can by that time send me ac hex ‘k on New York for eight hundred or one thousand dollars, I shall be much relieved. “* Wishing you every success, ‘Yours, &c., “ B. B. Smita.” 164 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE 4 de Now, Lunsford had no intention of sending this money by mail, and trusting to some good fortune about the return, as an equivalent, his wife and seven chil- dren. He determined to sec them himself, and safely transfer them to the land of freedom, and obi ain as le- gal a transfer o { their freedom into his hands as the law would permit. This he accomplished, but not with- out great trial and the hazard of his life. One other gentleman, of a very different character, more fuily noticed. remains to be Among the citizens in town who felt great indignation at the tre: tment of Lunsford , and the out rageous conduct of the mob, was the Rev. Dr. Heath. He frequently conferred with Lunsford, at thi and at other times. s As he moved about his parish, and became more and more acquainted with its concealed iniquities, with the private life of the slave upon the plantation, the greater became his abhorrence of system. His hints, which were sometimes not the mildest, to his slave-holding flock, at length bred dissatisfaction. and though they dared not make this a ground for his dismissal, they did not hesitate to indicate their dissat- isfaction in various ways. He determined at length to remove from the South, and take a parish in the F States, where his conscience ree would be untrammelled his whole duty as a Chris- tian minister. To this end. he sent j + and where he eould discharee n his resignation some time before Lunsford’s first visit ¢ was succceded by the Rev. Dr. Lacy 0 the North, and . o Lunsford would sometimes act as driver for Dr. Heath when making parochial calls upon his parishion- INCIDENTS IN A SOUTHERN PASTOR’S LIFE. 165 ers on the plantations, at times when his own servant was otherwise occupied, or when absent. At one time me ee ERR A PAE they had gone some distance irom Raleieh, makine final calls upon his more distant people previous to his going North. On this oceasion he was accompanied by Dr. i Davidson, one of the physicians attending his church, and as they were passing rapidly along the road, a slave ] - M4 — _~ 4 fV\N har ri ye »)y overtook them, riding with grea speed on horseba Jie 1: i hnoe et oo ‘ in his haste waiting neither for saddle nor bridle, gui the horse by his halter only. ‘* Massa Davidson,’ said the negro, almost out of breath, ‘‘ massa wants you to y | ae) ° nm ] i come back to de house as soon as vou can ; one ob de Be, V 4 r 29 ; 17) y "1 servants hab got shot! “We knew,’ said Lunsford to the writer, ** whence the ; lave had come, and we h: gg las- tened to ascertain the disaster. The plantation was an extensive one, employing a large number of slaves. The young master, who had now the charge, had but lately come into its possession, his father having recently died. There were various opinions about his fitness to manage, successfully, so large an estate, and we were curious to UV» < eet an insight into his mode of operations. On arriv- ing. we were conducted through the wide hall. passing through the centre of the ample mansion, into the or- chard beyond. Here, drawn up in an old ox-cart under the shade of the trees, lay a poor negro in the agonies of death, the blood oozing from his wounds and trick- ling from the tail of the cart. ‘Examine him, doctor, said the young planter, ‘and see if you can save him.’ Me had received the contents of the two barrels of a gun, heavily charged with buck-shot, through the thick portions of his thighs. The doctor felt his pulse, and, 166 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANR. taking his penknife, ripped open the coarse, tow pants. He immediately understood the condition of the patient, and replied that the man could not live til] morning; he was so reduced from loss of blood that it would be m- possible for him to sustain the suppuration already be- gun. After being shot, he had been brought in a rough cart from a corn-crib, more'than a mile distant. near the AVC overseer’s house. Had he been left there. some hope of saving him might have been entertained. We learned afterward that the neero died before morning. The young planter then gave us a brief account of the cir- cumstances leading to the casualty. It seems the ne- gro, Jolin, had but lately been permitted to take a wife, living upon a plantation some six miles or more distant, This distance he was compelled to travel after the day’s toil was ended, and he must return in the morning in time to enter the field with ‘the other slaves. The hour for commencing labor was carly at this season, it being August, and the oversecr was exceeding rigid in having the rules obeyed. That morning the man was some half. hour, or more, behind time. The overseer had just re- covered from a fever, and not feeling in the best humor, pounced upon poor John for his first victim, intending te sct an example, that would in future suppress any insubordination. He called John to his house, and de- manded the cause of his absence. He replied that he had been to see his wife, and had walked six miles that morning, but had miscalculated the time, «] will teach you better next time,’ and, raising his hand, aimed a blow at the slave’s head. The man threw up his arm to defend himself, bué with no design of assault. Will eres li) 2) SHOOTING A SLAVE. 167 you dare resist?’ said he, and, calling for assistance, he tied the man securely and placed him upon the floor of the corn-crib; then, goine to his house, he took his double-barrelled gun and discharged the contents into the thigh of the slave as he lay bound upon the floor! The simple loss, in this case, was a young and valuable slave, worth one thousand dollars in the market. The advantage was good discipline secured upon the planta- tion.”? Lunsford inquired particularly about the treat- ment of the overseer. He was allowed to go unmo- lested, no notice whatever being taken of the outrage by the civil authorities. Dr. Heath frequently spoke of this instance, among others, of the barbarism of sla- very, and he determined, once and forever, to remove from its cruel domain. On another occasion he was solicited by the mistress of a large plantation of slaves to baptize seven children at the negro quarters. The quarters consisted of two large rooms,—an upper and a lower,—which ten slave women and fifteen slave men inhabited. He bap- tized the seven children in this instance, the mistress standing as sponsor, and assuming vows which the very nature of the institution would not permit her to per- form. Of the seven children, the real mother of one only could be ascertained! the old nurses of the cabin he children, while the women were at work caring for 1 in the field. The last act, as we learned from Lunsford. performed as the pastor of this parish, was the burial of Colonel P— ., the grandson of a distinguished actor in the American Revolution, and a signer of the Declaration 168 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. of Independence. The demoralization of slave-holdine had almost ruined this ancient and honorable family ; intemperance and profligate habits had at leneth rushed every m: r virtue. The diseustine ; rj c es OPE) manly virtue. Th disgusting inebria- tion of the colonel was known to everybody, and it was predicted that his death would be sudden and calami- ous. Returning from his drunken enranc t us Returning from his drunken sprees, he would lie in his bed for several] days, until the effects of the vile volmpounds were over. On this last occasion, he had remained shut up in his room over two days, and his . - . . lL, a o4 : ? ; : y family, becoming alarmed, burst open the door and lound, to their terrible grief and consternation, that he “\ Z ys oe | 7 , had probably been dead more than twenty-four hours! His body-servant came to the parsonage for their pastor to perform the last sad rites over this unfortunate man’s remains, who had thus not only ruined his noble name e / c Vs 17 , oO ypoot leon. A ? ‘ ic . but brought great disgract upon all his connections. As the slave drove th ciergyman to his late master’s residence, several miles distant in the country. the horses, which were those used by the colonel, strove to turn in with them to the low dram-shops on the way. On one occasion Sam had quite a task in keeping them upon the road, so accustomed had they been to turn asid i e with their master in his Visits to these places of r VW ; . : . . he family found that it was impos- ly until the near the old man- } } ~ > . but few words of consola- . _ cl wl win “rr « crushed widow and her well-educated dauch- ters. Their sufferings were rendered doubly severe at hic ? , nC la yyry«ry mPa Y bd . this time, as the daughters were entertaining at the A SAD FUNERAL. mansion several young ladies from the city, who their classmates at school. The doctor could det this, and in many similar instances of defection fro. tue, the insidious evils of slavery,—one vice gen ] ‘- fostering another; the intemperance of the Sou surpassing that of the Free States, in propor the population. We shall notice only one other ) connected with Lunsford’s stay in Raleigh. Dr. who succeeded Dr. H., was a man of very di views respecting the divine institution of slavery. he could do incidentally to strengthen it, he neve tated to do. He knew of Lunsford’s strugeles for dom and for usefulness in the world; he admitted he was a man of naturally fine abilities, and capa commanding a high position among hisrace. He that his presence in Raleigh produced unhappi among the slaves, and excited in many a strong for freedom. Many persons, therefore, intereste the permanency of the institution, were devising m for his removal; a plan had, doubtless, been sue to Dr. Lacy. Meeting Lunsford one day, upon street, he said to him that he would like to at his study, at a time which he named, as matter to communicate to him which might be : to his interest to hear. Lunsford came at the ap time, and, on being seated, Mr. Lacy stated that just received a printed document from Presiden! erts, of the Liberian Republic, which he would r It set forth the great advantages of Liberia place of emigration for free blacks; it gave glowin scriptions of the country, and of the progress in agri- 16 170 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. culture and the arts of civilization. Many colored per- sons of intelligence from America had been raised to posts of great honor and emolument. He referred to tine case of Lewis S] ‘eridan, a colored man whom Luns- ti ford knew as being once a resident in North Caro- lina, but now doing well in Liberia. and at that time expecting an election to the presidency. The doctor even proposed, if he would leave immediately for Libe- ria, many of the people of Raleigh would assist in pay- ing expenses. There was one unportant item in all this proposition, to which the doctor did not even allude, un- til suggested by Lunsford. It contemplated only his personal removal. What was to become of a wife and seven small children, all of them slaves? Mr. Lacy did not say that it would be easy to find a wife in Liberia, and that his wife might find a husband in Raleieh. “Tf this proposition had been made at a time when I was in a situation to purchase the freedom of my wife and lit l- ? tle ones, with the understanding that they were to ac- company me to that paradise of the colored man.— so considered, at least, by the Southern people, —I would gladly have entertained the proposition ; but as it pro- posed only my own removal, I simply said I would con- sider it.”’ Although this book does not profess to speak of sla- in its worst features. yet Lunsford had suffered incidentally, or, perhaps, accidentally, from the lar working of the institution. His lather was ‘ one oO the ¢ eruart l C a laree charge of buck-shot entering. He was confined to his bed for weeks. He was innocent of any offence; he THE PLANTATION NEAR TARBORO’. 171 had gone out, after dark, to the market, at the desire =~ 9 of his master, and was returning, with no intention of molesting any one. His wife’s brother was also shot, while at work for the overseer. The cruelty of the lat- ter compels him to seek security at his master’s house. He is pursued by the overseer, his young master, John Goylan, refuses to succor him, and determines to have him punished. He escapes out of the house, and is shot as he runs across the field. Although not killed, he is maimed for life. Another man, belonging to the Boylan above, having run away on account of cruel treatment, is finally discovered by a neighbor, who had orders to shoot him on sight. He deliberately gets his un, and shoots him through the head as he was pass- cross his field. Another man belonging to his master was shot by the patrol guard, after dark. In none of these cases was there a legal investigation ; they were all passed over with but little comment, so Lio had the Southern people become to these scenes of blood. Lunsford used frequently to accompany his master, Mr. Haywood, in the spring, to his largest plantation, near Tarboro’. Here he had an opportunity of witness- ing many of the incidents of plantation life, leaving upon his mind very important lessons. Here over one hun- dred and fifty slaves were engaged in the various opera- tions of raising cotton, corn, and hogs. Lunsford and Sam, who usually accompanied them on these occa- sions, had no desire to exchange their comparatively comfortable home and clothing for the squalor and al- mst nakedness of these negroes. Mr. Haywood usually ee ae : 7 6) MO} 7IDENCE OF SLAVES. L72 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. IMPROVIDENCE OF SL ‘ee , . . . ro 2 men. One, the negro Ned, had been torn mained three days upon the plantation, himself and valuable men eens : . ° . , =e 5 VE ; rr . > ane Oe i . Terese ‘vants being entertained at the house of the overseer to pieces by the hounds. [he overseer who succ l has as | ; i ras Worril, who was as much too lenient pected the condition of the crops in the autumn, ed him was Worril, y ‘ oy . . : } yc TE a Se ey , ; as arre ras too severe. Lunsford remembers, made arrangements for its being sent in flat-boats as Warren was ft Bisping ig - ae ; Ree tne one of ‘ir visits orril’s failing in three Washington, and thence by vessels to New York. during one of their visits, ; bette r acres of attempts to whip the negro Phil. The desperate y acres of corn on the stalk were left standing, and " pu cr ” ‘haracter of the m: inally e elled him to desist wine, numbering at times over four hundred, character of the man finally comp ? ; bs z ¢ e rs ; ; S + <1 into the field to gather their own provender. and he was sold South rn e,e bg » clawacs so ‘ _. vino been fat ' . . » wretched condition of the slaves on this planta ving been fatted and killed, after this rough planta- the wi tohe " bie ‘dad sade yle, the bacon is stored in the great smoke-house tion was owing, in a great measure, to his a ase ‘ > ' ~ A ‘ . > a ‘ : ‘ e ° . a + . a - e . ‘ i be distributed in rations throueh the year BA se residence in Raleigh, and his inability, from other en oe ers ‘rsonallyv Their : . . ‘agements, to supervise matters personally. , the whole force of the plantation is employed at gagements, — improvidence led to much sickness and to frequent lie Waters . » Tar River at the period referred to At these deaths. The house-servants of Mr. Haywood dreaded < i re ‘ ‘ o . d J CSe there is fisheries,—herring and shad abounding in t] > tats ine so much as the threat of being transferred to ereat laxity of discipline amone the nothing so much as t id a , is plantatic Te have s far considered the rem- , drunkenness, gambling, and licentiousness, pre- this plantation. We have thus f | . : ‘niscences of ‘for ane ‘ing his residence in ig to a most ruinous degree. Lunsford saw the iniscences of Lunsford Lane during hi 0: iat lave State: rhe.e ‘ted himself in a State of ing away of several weeks’ rations. by the slaves, a Slave State; how he conducted hin a i : er _ : Ae rj » responsibility of the rearing of a large lew quarts of villanous whiskey. This improvi- freedom, with the respor ’ bis ee ' ‘amily, will be considered hereafter. ‘led to other vices, — thieving after night to sup- ERAT WHS A ue means of living, for that which ha | in gambling. | been squan- 15* The overseer on this place usually three dogs trained to the business of tracking run- The overseer’s business was to make the land duce so much cotton, corn, and bacon. B ‘yond the xr required of the hands for this, he did not look. Tf refused to labor, they were whipped ; if they ran , they were hunted by the dogs. It is true that tlaywood had discharged one overseer, by the ime of Warren, on account had lost by of his excessive cruelty. hie Me NJ ~~ . ~ y Us means during the year several THE rey i CHAPTER X. “ Have ye heard of our hunting, o'er mountain and glen, Through cane-brake and fore st, — the hunting of men? The lords of our land to this hunting have gone, As the fox-hunter follows the sound of the horn; Hark! the cheer and the hallo! the crack of the whip, And the yell of the hound as he fastens his grip! All blithe are our hunters, and noble their match. Though hundreds are caught, there are millions to eatch. So speed to their hunting, o’er mountain and glen, Through cane-brake and forest, — the hunting of men!” i RESCUED HOUSEHOLD ON THE SOIL OF FREEDOM— ATTENDS ts MAY ANNIVERSARIES IN NEW YORK AND BOSTON -~ AD- RESSES THE ANTI-SLAVERY CONVENTION —IS WELL RE- ED—EMPLOYED AS LECTURER— REMOVES TO OBERLIN, [10 -OBERLIN RESCUE CASE, AND OTHERS. ) Lunsford and his rescued household, as their ‘eet pressed the soil of freedom, every sight and i, and every breath they inhaled, seemed to bring a yy to their hearts, and to fill their souls with new to enter upon the new and untried life before They were poor; but poverty to the industrious irtuous is not the worst misfortune. They were lespised race, and of a dark skin: but there were oreater than those, which they had escaped. Good ‘uct, strict attention to business, and faithfulness in ir duties to God and man, might soften’ these preju- s, perhaps in time remove them, and the dark skin t be no bar in codperating with amother&race in reat enterprises of the benevolent and cood. 174 THE RESCUED HOUSEHOLD. io Lunsford was a man of deep religious convictions, and of unfeigned reverence for his Maker: and one of his first acts, on reaching Philadelphia, was the offering up, in the midst of his family, devout thanksgiving to God for the wonderful interpositions in his rescue from the hands of wicked men, and the future and untold miseries which they might have experienced, had they not secured their freedom. After a little rest in Philadelphia, calling upon his friends, and extending his acquaintance among other colored men who had, like him, secured their freedom, he immediately set about secking some means of living. He called upon those friends who had lately assisted him in releasing his family from bondage, and made known to them his situation. Henry C. Wright, an ardent friend of the colored man, in that city, advised him to go to New York at the coming May anniversa- ries, with the promise that his case would be presented to the members of. the anti-slavery convention which would assemble at that time. Mr. Wright, true to his promise, gave a brief account of Lunsford’s late strug- gles for freedom, and the trials he had encountered. He closed by presenting Lunsford‘and his family to the convention, which included his aged. mother, his wife, and seven children, all strangers, in a strange land, -— all the earnings of a hfe gone to secure them that which by nature already belonged to them, — the right of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of ,happiness.”’ At the desire of the convention, Lunsford gave them a brief, clear, and intelligent history of his past life, of his labors for freedom up to the period of his recent 176 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. efforts in New York and Boston, in behalf of his family, and the persecutions which awaited him j in Raleigh, and upon his way out; how that, out of them all, the Lord had delivered them. So impre ssed was the convention with his tra; isparent hone sty, his fine use of language, so entire ly free from that alinon t unintelligible gs tyle « f many of his race, so dignified and 1 polite in his bearing toward others, that they det bartentn gl to aid him in ev Ty way in their power. At the close of his address a collection was take nh, and over thirty dollars was con- tributed by these self-denying men toward his support. At t suggestic { his friends, he followed the mem- bers of the convention to Boston, where he was also well received, and a good collection taken. His re- marks here also added to the good feeling excited i his behalf, and it was determined to e mploy him as a lecturer in the New England States. and thus contrib- ute, as far as he was able, in awakening greater inter- est in the emancipation of his race. The terms of his engaremeni h: Wing been arranged, he departed upon his mission as an anti-slave ry lecturer. His associates in these labors were men distinguished for their anti-slave ry efforts, with whom he often spoke upon the same platform. Among them he mentions the names of Parker P lsbury, Wendell Phillips, Fred. Douglas, Charles L. Remond, and others. he visited Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont setts, and Rhode Island, lecturing in In this way , Massachu- all the principal towns, scattering tracts, and e ndeavorine, in all laudable ways, to interest the people in the condition of the black man, and illustrating, in his own life, their ability, un- ATTENDS THE MAY ANNIVERSARIES. 177 der favorable conditions, to take care of themselves. That he was the humble instrument, under God. ‘of doing much toward arousing the nation to the mon- ness of slavery, in the United States, in tu century, no one can for a moment doubt. added just that amount of fuel, small it might be, that has kindled a conflagration the decaying institution of cruelty and wrong 7 — * T ° his conflagration will not cease until every rotten stick and timber in the house of slavery shall be con- sumed. Let us await calmly the day when, the rubbish and charred remains having been removed, the hand of honest free labor will visit these desolate recions, and rear upon the former ruins the substantial fabrics of anew and more glorious civilization In these self-denying labors, the generous people did not forget that the workman was worthy of his wages. He was enabled to support his family comfortably in Boston, and ehene to the education of his children. In May, 1848, he was invited to visit New York, and be present at ‘the anniversary of the Baptist Home Missionary Association. He was here requested to make some remarks. The Association was so much impressed with his good sense acids ae in every good work that they immediately engaged his services as colporteur, with instructions to operate especially among his own people, of whom a large number in all the pop- ulous towns are members of the Baptist Church. His labors, however, were not confined to this class, and his influence and sensible conversation upon religious sub- jects were sought by many others. In this good woek 178 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE be continued to operate, with more or less success, for nearly two years. The seed of the Word thus sown, it is hoped, will be seen after many davs. In 1852, Heath & Graves published Hackett’s Tllus- rations of the Scriptures, which work was the result of extensive travels in the Holy Land and careful investi- gation of many subjects of Biblical interest. Lunsford, desiring to better, if possible, his pecuniary « condition, and at the same time scatter Scriptural knowledge, en- gaged his services as agent in the circulation of this work. In this enterprise he continued about two vears. At frequent times, durine the last few years, infor- mation had reached Lunsford that many of his ac- quaintances from North Carolina had settled at Oberlin, Ohio. He opened a correspondence with them, and was so much pleased with their accounts of the mild- ness of the climate, and its correspondence to North Carolina, — in some respects reminding them of home,—that he determined. if possible, to remove thither. Death had also entered his household, and four of his children had been taken. The family all suffered much from the rigors of the climate of Massa- chusetts, and he felt persuaded that their health would be improved by removine to one milder. About the year 1856, he gathered up his effects and departed with his family, at great sacrifice of many social comforts, and at the severance of many ties in the goodly com- monwealth of Massachusetts. Arriving at Oberlin, he looked about for a place of residence. He at length found a place, which he hoped his slender means would enable him to purchase. Unfortunately, he fell into OBERLIN RESCUE CASE. 179 the hands of unprincipled land speculators, who suc- ceeded in swindling him out of nearly all the funds he had invested. The small estate he was enabled to pur- chase. he found had been mortgaged to other parties for far more than it was worth. Unscrupulous men are by no means confined to the South, and the colored man must be upon his guard, here, as everywhere, against re) “the cruel man and the extortioner.”’ The eager grasp for money and power regards neither condition nor color. Lunsford, not finding the comforts and conven- iences of living there so great as he had been led to expect, and haying been swindled out of a large portion of his slender means, determined to return to Massa- chusetts. ‘The Oberlin rescue case having occurred about that time, he felt no desire to remain where he freedom of there was any doubt of maintaining 1 himself and family. The climate, too, did not agree with them, and the additional sorrow of parting, by death, with another child, hastened their departure. The administration of Mr. Buchanan was distin- guished for the vigor and cruelty with which the fugi- tive slave law was enforced. Hundreds are the vic- tims who were torn from their comfortable homes, in the Free States, and consigned to slavery. We are not now considering the question as to whether these per- sons were really fugitives; we simply state the fact that the history of our annals furnishes nothing which the future historian will read with so much pain as these arrests. The Oberlin and Wellington rescue case would of itself fill a large volume. We have space here only for a very brief outline. Many of its un- 180 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. pleasant features must |} ing intelligent press. The ( the part in all Ie left untouched. The follow- 4ccount has been AaS€ Was a tedious of the United States its branches to the sum of all] Villanies,”’ that enlist in its def punish a lar recently given to the and protracted effort on sovernment, prostituted service of slavery, — that which assimilates to itself al] fence and s rvice, — to harass and » Moral, and hieh ly- Ohio. simply because t] down and see + body of veaceable as. ns of ’ North could not sit quietly man of their ley a worthy young town snatched from al] the his ws and of freedom, by a ruthless gang of man- stealers, Among their of the college at O} privileges of humber were several students erlin, one of its rofe ‘ssors, the rest being citizens of the town and neighborhood, of both colors. On Saturday, Sept mber 11, 1858, tw O slave-hunters came to the house of L ewis D, Roviites: near Oberlin, Over two nights. On Monday wear Only twelve and remained there morning, a son of years of age, { his father » and proceede In. inding the color sometimes called < ‘ Little John,’ Wished to hire him to dio took a horse and buge d to the vill; ace of Oberli dd man John, ’ he told him his father * potatoes. The unsuspecting to accompany the boy back, from the vil]: Ae man agreed to 20 When about : ma one-half mile » & Carriage, came behind, when the lad The first intimation to John of for him was to find behind by the arms. drag coming from a cross-road., (Boynton) stopped. the snhé ire Sel himse If Se ized from ’, plnioned ‘ave Ken- OBERLIN RESCUE CASE. 181 tucky captors. Fortunately for the siamo re a was recognized, while being driven rapidly away, by ; Oberlin student who was passing, and who made haste to give the alarm along the road and at Obe nh. am The lad (Boynton) returned to his father’s house with a golden reward for his part in on spss is trayal of a fellow-being into slavery. Can it be so even in this slave-holding and demoralized land, t at this same Lewis D. Boynton, the hired paneer: this nefarious business should have been pe allowed to act as one of the Grand Jurors ‘ by " = the rescuers of this unfortunate negro were subse yntly indicted ? _ a large body of Oberlin residents re- sponded to the alarm-call, and, in various vehicle - = armed, took the road to W ellington; the mets _ upon the Cleveland & Cincinnati Railroad. ! ee We bers increased as they went, and, on armying at ” : = found the slave-hunters, with United States ene : = hotel, waiting the arrival of the train. oo 8 es Marshal Lowe produced some papers and r ” t pe The crowd demanded that the man be brougat pes Some State officers present assured them that if ees would be patient the United States apnea aprile ants should be arrested as kidnappers. But ris " . noon wore away, and nothing was done beyond ea nt- ing the departure of the man-stealers and their vi ee Finally the prisoner was discovered at an pe pi dow, and the crowd could wait no longer. A la i * See ‘‘ Fugitive Slave Law and its Victims,” page 103. 16 182 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. was placed, by which men reached the balcony, entered the house, and gained the attic story, and the prisoner was borne out and down among the short ime. co 9 crowd in a very 1 0 one,’ says the narrator, “was hurt, not a shilline’s damace done, not a shot fired and t] boy Was saved.”’ Tl 4 CAi ile ne marshal, somewhat disturbed by these proceedings, asked if his life would be spared. He was answered ft] iat it would be. provid > parts on tl] The government of ed he. would hot again visit thos le same errand. the United States thereupon in- 1 persons, to appear before the United Court, at ©] veland, ¢ dicted thirty-seve; 0 answer to the g, or aidine, abetting, and assisting gitive from service or labor.’ expected, not a single cerned As was friend of the administ in the rescue was indicted. clear, from the circumstance ration con- This policy was » that Boynton had bh Grand Jury. cember, fourteen of the een se.. lected to serve on the On the 8th of De- ted persons were present, » court. The Hon. R. Pp. and 8S. O. Griswold, Esq., nsel, undertaking their def indic and were arraigned before the Spaulding, Hon. Pek’. Riddle, appeared as their coy ence lree of charge. Judox Spaulding announced that the accused were ready for trial, and requested trial imme- isconcerted the district at ney, Judge Belden, and he was obliged to ad was not ready for trial, and diately. This evidently d tor- mit that he asked a delay of a I to obtain witnesses from Kentucky. Judge Sp: ulding asked if it was “ re Casonap ortnight le and humane that fourtee) thrown into jail to await the slave-catchers ?”? The Court, citizens of Obio should be movements of Kentucky 2 OBERLIN RESCUE CASE. 183 however, granted a continuance, and stated that - defendants would be held to bail in the sum of five hundred dollars each. “ We give no bail, may it pa e the Court; and the prisoners are here subject to the or- der of the Court.’”’ Again, both the Court and prosecut- ing officer seemed confounded; but, after consultation, il was decided to discharge the prisoners on their own recognizance to appear at the March term. ne ine. non of the winter, a young man, a student in Oberlin an lege, went to the neighborhood of Columbus to teach a chal: His name was William Ky. Lincoln ; he was one of the number indicted for participating in the res- cue. He is described by.Professor Peck as “a person . veggie Nortment.’ One day, of excellent character and deportment. when engaged in his school, he was summoned to the door by a man named Samuel Davis, a bailiff of the Unite “States Court, who informed him that he had a writ which it was his duty to execute, and produced handeuffs, which he proceeded to apply. scars oe objected to being pinioned ; said he should mating = _ sistance, but would go with him at once. But avis was one of the men who got badly irightened at Wel- lineton, at the time of the rescue. and insisted on put- ting the irons upon Lincoln’s hands, and bore mn away. He was taken to Columbus, twelve miles dis- tant. and put in a foul cell, where the vermin ware crawling over its walls, and no food was given him until three o’clock the next morning. Several visitors were allowed to come into his cell and insult him: among these was a man named Dayton, who had been one of the aids of United States Marshal Lowe, at the time of | SUA a rer errr meer veers Pa ee 184 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. the Oberlin kidnapping. Lincoln to Cleveland. him on his own The next day, Lowe took Mr. Where Judge Wilson dischareed recognizance to appear at the March court. These facts are gleaned from a spirited letter of Professor Peck to the Columbus State mean time the Grand Jury of Loraine imously found bills of indictment a States deputy marshal, Jac, , for at- tempting to kidnap John Rice from Oberlin. In April, the trial of the indicted thirty-seven came on in Clevye- land. After a ten slays’ hearing upon t of Lorin Bushnell, t] guilty ! Journal. In the County had unan- gainst the United b Lowe, and others he single case le Jury brought in a verdict of The name of Mr. Lanes ton was next called. The counsel objected to his trial going on before the same jury which had just heard and determined the case of Bushnell. Judge Wilson gave it to be stood that no other Jury would be called. Spaulding and the counsel then declined case. The judge said t] under- Judge arguing the 1¢ prisoners would be allowed to go on their parole to return on Monday The prisoners declined to give either r parole, and were taken to morning. ecognizance or Jail, where the officer de- clined to incarcerate {] Q] n in cells, but made them as l in his own house. comfortable as he coul: At this stage of the proceedings, the prisoners applied to the supreme court of the State of oO} hilo for a writ of ha custody O shal. This was heard ] beas corpus, { the United State 'y the full bench, of comity to courts. In this decision three two, Brinkerhoff and Sutli to take them from the S mar- and the writ re- fused, on the ground the United States Judges acreed ; the other ff, dissenting. As the time . 185 OBERLIN RESCUE CASE. o. ieta drew nigh for the trial of the four kidnappers, perm as above stated, by the Grand Jury of Loraine “i ‘i : and they saw no escape from the Ohio PRE Fi proposition to compromise the whole anew: iar ee and agreed upon, by which the United States al . sth all prosecutions against the rescuers, on Hibs ne thorities agreed to abandon the suits against wi . and others. The people of Ohio Se r Ais ance to the law to show the country its omoun ae : manity. The courts of Ohio were wise in not oo the United States, as it subsequently gave to = je o f fre an immense moral power, when the govern- of freedom an im | apomcopsy is ment came over to the side of fustice a — : = In portions of some of the Hree ap eeh 7 : wre had been a large influx of Southern people, ver vas made to kidnapping, and hun- little resistance was made to kidnappin; a yh e counte- dreds of unfortunate colored men, unde ee 3 a ’ the fucitive slave law nance given by the existence of the fugitive sla ai IG & 4 « *e , n ” waht re ster re sent into slavery. and but litile time was wast were sent DMATOTY's ig ational alae by un rincipled men in deciding the question of tl 3 : ‘or several years previous to the right to freedom. For several Tino} hee cine. souther inois ‘me of which we are now speaking, southern time of whic : ) iG snuaimisaiihcaale had been the hunting-ground of the men-stealers, ; "'Y . : ~~ 7 rears, Scores, per- it is stated that within the past ten j pence 3 “ Is. of freeme ave been kidnapped. 1e haps hundreds, of freemen have | 7 sis ale rerless ish the villains, or to bring bac! law is powerless to punish Pedi Lomita ies in which ni the captives. There were many counties i : | of Bs. ; re was a laree band o man of color was safe; and there was a large ba nit Acvl ° P a : po , their men, known to each other by the secret badges of HCN, KNOW ; an! 7 _ piace . i LoToes eir prey. profession, who lived by making negroes th isis WP 7 ; iy ’ e ‘i p ots ra CG . AS the object of this work is to deal with facts, 16# | Risin init hitnsaniiiennan tui y 186 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE 4e than fancy, we extract the foll owing interesting account from the Chicago Ti; bune, of a recent kidnapping es tas =) near Clifton, Illinois oats “On Sunday, ing in or near Case June 3d, 1860 Clifton, — a Villa tion on the Iinois Centra] from Chicago, , three colored men, liy- se near Ashkum, a sta- Road, — were enticed by se into a country store, pounced uj about sixty miles ven or eitht whites Or frocery y, and, when there, were on by their armed decoys, now turned as- sailants, and. under { instant death from re- volvers pointed at their breasts, were compelled to sub- mit to the commands of by foree and fraud, had Overpowered them. T) off to Ashkum, ‘hey were instantly hurried moveme hreats of * those who. and their captors, having timed their nts to correspond with the motions of th train, thrust their prey, still] tols and bowie-knives. e down guarded by an array into the unfortunate men. All this was legal process of any ] of pis- cars, and bore off the accomplished without a ind, — by brute force alone, ille- gally and diabolically. The indignation community in which this aroused by the outrage and the of the quiet occurred was thoroughly ; but all parties — the wrong-doers — were State, under the ¢ wronged gone; hid in a Slave hadow of t] he institution that justi fles and everybody despaired of being captives back, or the scoundrels to the punishment that they had richly earned. “The | all sueh atrocities ; able to bring the cidnapped men wy as steam could conv: re carried to St. Louis as fast ‘'y them, jealously guarded way. Arrived there. ¢] all the LlCy were thrust en which still dis > into a neero- Staces that free-soj] city, and the .E 187 KIDNAPPING CASE. work, with a view to the profits of the great one om commenced. In answer to the inquiry chests 7 — ‘Who is your master?’ one averred that he , om é es and always had been, a free man ; another refusc ‘ | ; answer ; while the third, the man Jim, said op a = been the property of Aime Pernard, a gettay init rondelet, seven miles from the city. i va bis sits claimed to be free, and his silent oe ae it tied up and cruelly logged, — the one ” iihnes recollection of the servitude that his CARSOTA fe | _— and the other to open his mouth to a hlipeny 6 wu he would not make. Whipping proving ‘ no ¢ di other forms of cruelty —hunger the most ees a tried,— but with no better success. At wiki ot p- ‘ . men —one torn ruthlessly from his wife and children, ay ss athens from a neighborhood in which his Pig try had made him respected, and each en a tale freedom and enjoyment— were sent wipe er _ " war, : as such, il ; They were prisoners + ee ee ~~ f peace, were compelied to suvmit t > Ci hsp: , m if ee which permits the buying on ee - - and women, and accounts i patriotism, what coul i y dlo ? Poor, friendless, and black, adjudged . pa: rights that white men are bound to respect, Wi ‘ a: "7 they do? The tide that has overwhelmed four ml one of their kind has overborne them. They -_ ee great vortex, never to be heard of Ones: ‘i ee funeral’? — perchance of some untol tunate ‘a ute ‘the lash for his repeated attempts vho has died under the lash fo1 re] Bij aert to gain freedom, or of one whom a rifle-shot ee a the swamp had skilled, or of a man prematurely 188 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANZ. Out by labor, and the whip, hunger, and the br iron — will close the earthly career of each. -Lessed are the anding poor in spirit ; caven. Blessed are the Y that mourn ; While this whipping, s} ping, and se line Was going on, Aime of Jim. was Visited by one of the hi )=- Per nard, the own, kidnap pers - He went — buy the chances of lve years’ absence. hamed f{ and blood. But it with orders to buy Jj 1m, running, a Capture, after fi One hundre d dol- for this fugitive iene Indien: antly refused. qua drupled, and, but all tempts itiox lars was the sum was vas doubled, trebled, plied by ten; legal title to however: is failed to get them a their prey. They served this pur ‘ uspic ions the se oundrels, and their unconcealed rness to effect a trade. On Saturday, the capture, he sent * Negro woman into St. | mother of Jim, — to make the ne med to demand. ft led her to the rieht plac bs ognized her gon, | danger, pose, the owner’s were aroused by amount offered by eage the a week aft w aiter 40U1s woman maine 5 the ries the case Admitted to the pen, she r earned from his lips his suffe rings | and then, with such gs mand, hurried bac] sent him into the city, and to the story was repeat emphasis ; ‘ularity that e Ve] ’ Y drop of that master’s bloo a fingled - his veins. His naggard i appearance, his wounds, and 1. : trot? marks Ol ted to the etrinna tt Stripes ates ii com- s house. Her story slave-pen speed as she could «x to the master’. a S § d with such uster’s ¢ ight the truth upon wing Cars. He ealled the the place, comm of the words that af keeper of t] anded the humane treatment 189 KIDNAPPING CASE. : ise that he would : t, with the promise that | of his charge, and left, with t eC | mda trephine, return and relieve him of his charge. s be Cl c - ay , ring day Sunday morning. Very early on the following ; bes P | apy eared again at the prison-gate, to pay {ime ernar appes ap < 3 ; Z ; the — it red by the laws o the sum —one hundred dollars —allowed by t is | 3 | 3 7 1 4 ‘ , 1S to the captors of a fugitive, and the jail fees, the State to the captor: og ae ite “4 ‘ia Jim out in ¢ amounting to thirty-five more ; and to ‘e er , ss ; . ‘ . ré S ) ter hi ‘ought along, wa: suit, which his master had broug new suit, which hi: pretimag hore half-hour’s work. ‘This done, the two went vik a half ) the rafters 3 fate ut, alte Carondelet, Jim yet doubtful of his fate. ss % i Jk 9° J sas vee EEN s maste i r two, his case was talked over between hi aa aay or 5 s Udi ee vial d himself, and when we state the result, fi ant pUil,s ¢ Reb Tags TA A rand noble- f of Jim’s eloquence, and the generosity a roo e 6 ‘ . i - = , are vere 2 f the master’s heart. Jim’s free papers y 7 ape Si gs? ; rac siderably in- ide out, his stock of money was conside 2 : mi y \ 5 . aa ; ad me ost creased, a ticket to Clifton was put in his ha : . . yf te 9 < 5 . aa ,Y - ro ec 0 . uking by the side of his late master, now es ! We + ra) J - s at 086 oe r mem and friend, the two crossed the Mississippi int ae a im j > Northern train, the master, Here, seating him in the Northe bet , ~~ ae Cc © . vey ee € re rm ress with tears flowing down his cheeks and a wa i eo 3 da : re invoked for h f the hand, bade Jim good-by, and invoke« O 1e c 5 bs 4 , ‘ # » way ! tod’s blessing to speed him on the way ; edit ning, Jim made his appearagee, "i Ta ‘ r eve | oO. e c ts On W edne S( ay ; or : | z ; : "a ing’, ence he suddenly and without warning, at Clifton, w StL ( A < i s a ps) = ve a er had been carried off. He was waving his free ] | iad been c: bait ; his head. ) ’ ’ Office of Court Oo] Pleas and (Juarter Sessions. April 26, 1842 “The execution of the within bil] of sale was this day duly acknowledged before me, by B. B. Smith, the executor of the same. In testimony whereof ] Riv hereunto affixed the seal of said court, and greats my name at office, in Raleigh, the “Jas. T. Marriorr, Clerk.” “STATE oF NortnH CAROLINA, WAKE COUNTY. +. v? ) y > . I, eae Boylan, presiding magistrate of the | oan Court of Pleas and (Juarter Sessions for the county aforesaid, certify that Jas. T. M: arriott, who has written and signed the above certificate, is clerk of the court aforesaid, that the « same is in due form, and full faith and credit are due to such his official acts. Given under my hand and ae ite seal (having no seal of office) this 26th d: w of April, 1842. INTERESTING DOCUMENTS. 201 “Tor Stare or Nortn CAROLINA. ‘To ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME — ry ae me ied x7 | (fj. GREETING : t known, That William Boylan, whose sionature ay) ar in his own proper hand Ing tO -¢ha the annexed certificate, was, at the time of signing th same, and now is, a Justice of the Peace, and the pre- siding magistrate for the County of Wake, in the State aforesaid, and as such he is duly qualified and empow- ered to give such certificate, which is done here in the usual and proper manner; and full faith and credit are due to the same and ought to be given to all the official acts of said William Boylan as presiding magistrate aforesaid. ‘¢Tn testimony whereof, I, J. M. Morehead, Govern Captain-general, and Commander-in-chief, have iii the great seal of the State to be hereunto affixed, and sioned the same at the city of Raleigh, on ” beginning of the present rebellion. mately are the interests of the therewith that the history So 1nti- colored race connected and progress of the one can- not be considered without the other. Few persons in the community are Willing wholly t ) ionore the question as to what shall be done with the four million persons in bondage. Whether right or wrong, the irrepressible one 202 “wa 9) . THE REBELLION OF SLAVE-HOLDERS. 03 desire, on the part of these colored children of the South, for freedom, is forcing itself upon us in many ways, by their actual appearance in multitudes in the Free States, as our armies advance into the domain of slavery, or swarming on the Southern coast, whenever our victorl- ous forces compel the retirement of their owners. What shall be done with four million slaves, is the question on thousands of lips. Will they labor as freed- men for a living? Can we ever educate them so that they shall not be continual pensioners upon our bounty ¢ And, finally, the question is foreed upon us, Will they fieht for their freedom, since the slave-holders of the South still continue their rebellion to keep them in bondage ¢ Lunsford Lane, at this time residing in Worcester, endeavored, both in public and in private, to answer some of these questions. His long residence at the South, and his extensive acquaintance with persons of his race, made him in some sense a representative of their views. To this end he visited a number of towns, and, where he was kindly received and a hall could be obtained, he lectured. 4 The present writer was at that time residing in W u- kinsonville, where he first made the acquaintance olf Lunsford, and so much interested did he become in his history that he is only fulfilling a promise then made, that at some time he would endeavor to make more public the foregoing history. Dr. Lane, at the same time, eave a lecture in the hall of that villagewhich was very well attended, and with which the people were much pleased. His remarks evinced a practical good 204 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. sense which all seemed to appreciate. He spoke sub- stantially as follows : — ‘¢'The wishes of the colored people are much misun- derstood by their friends North and South. We de- sire, in the first place, freedom in its truest and best sense,— not a mere license to do as we please. Hay- ing’ secured this, we wish to be situated so as to be prof- itably employed, so as to benefit the State as well as ourselves. We have no desire Northern S to remain in the tates, except as a temporary place of refuge from slavery. This is not our native climate. We love warmer suns and a more productive soil. Here our offspring wither and die. They revive and flourish under the warmer skies of the South. As soon as peace is concluded, and security for life and limb jis guaranteed, we would return to a clime so well suiting our constitutions. In North Carolina alone. there are thousands of acres of unoccupied lands, which might be made to flourish under the diligent culture of the black man. We could occupy these lands as tenants or as owners, adding largely to the annual productions of cotton, rice, wheat, and veeetables. “In a state of freedom, our wives and daughters would not be employed in the rough out-door labor of the men, as now. They would drop the spade, the hoe, and the plough, and attend more to the duties of home in the rearing of our neglected offspring, giving far more attention to their cleanliness and comfort. We would want schools and teachers, where they may be taught lessor ‘ . : We know they are lonorant. 1s of mor- als as well as of industry. The railroads of the South LUNSFORD LECTURES UPON THE SUBJECT. 205 have employed nearly as many females, old and young, in their construction, as men. The pick, the shovel, and the cart, have been operated equally by the females. This should not be. Our children are thus neglected, and grow up as ignorant as the brutes. “We want more freedom for Northern teachers and religious instructors to visit the South, that they may spread before us the life-giving pages of God’s Word. Heretofore, ignorance an1 prejudice have al- most banished these devoted men from the holy labors to which they were willing to devote their lives. We have no desire to leave the United States for a resi- dence in the British Provinces, under a government with which we are not acquainted; nor to emigrate to Libe- ria, or to the West Indies. The South is our home; and we feel that there we can be happy, and contribute by our industry to the prosperity of our race, and leave the generation that succeeds us wiser and better. No greater mistake can, therefore, be made than to sup- pose that we desire to come North. We only desire < secure freedom in the South. We hope not only to Support ourselves, but to add greatly to the wealth of the country, in the way of exports of surplus corn, and cotton, rice, and sugar. We expect to be more decently clothed ourselves, and to purchase more and valuable articles from the industrious and mechanical North. The old, clumsy implements of agriculture that have been a source of weariness these many years we shall throw away, and purchase of Massachusetts her hoes aud ploughs and rakes and cultivators and mowing- machines. Our men and women in the field will then 18 206 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. have clothing enough to cover their nakedness: not as now abashine the modesty of the refined and virtuous. The old ‘quarters’ and the rude, uncomfortable cabin, will give place to more convenient and healthy houses. We shall provide for our families more healthy and nourishing food. The provender heretofore has been chiefly corn and bacon,—not such bacon as we find + here at the North. The swine of the South are a far different race from that known at the North. There the herds run wild in the woods, subsisting upon roots and nuts. might be added a like number of neero slaves, the cap- tain of each comnany heine ahi; atl ; o ic company being obliged, by an act of As- sembly, to enlist, train u : ‘ina 4 eld, f, | y 0 enlist, train up, and bring into the field, for ACI I/ fe > 7 > , 2 . : é cach White, one able slave, armed with a gun or lance a ] or each man 7 LS CON : twer’s Hi ; J nan m his company.’ — River’s History of Se , 7 YO south Carolina, p. 233. e* we 5 rl} oO ¢ iVTy)é Cnn ’ 1h 4) ; Li . ‘The Yemassee Indians having commenced g 17 io cy ; 7 7 : hostilities against South Carolina, the Assembly ‘Re- ee , , Q solved, That a sufficient number of lances be made mediately to arm the hegroes w Wl im- ho cannot be supplied th guns in the present expedition.’ — River’s His- tory of South Carolina, p. 267. <6 a OT | {/ ae Spel. - 1739-40. Provision was made by the Assembly for the payment of slaves ‘engaged in the public serviee’ on the expeditio: ’ Ger rle na 1 | tlO l of Gen. Ocl thorpe. They are de- arhay, Aa 6 LANnAANGa 7 Y qY . scribed as pioneers. —S. C. Stats. at large, Vii p. 42% 4L0. CX- rt.) me a | LC} were °9Ol board the vessels fitted out by government.’ 66 7 ») | My~rP nada TOY . ce 1442. Ne groes were ‘enlisted and sent on the pedition for the relief of Georgia.’ cm gy eee See i “The ‘war policy’ thus inaugurated by the South Ya palin: . WAG Carolinians was not only adhered to by them durine ’ © the Revolutionary War, but it was adopted by Wash- ington, as it was subsequently, in the war of 1812. by Jackson, and by Gov. Moore, of Louisiana. at the com- mencement of the rebellion; and all who are familiar » fomented the secession movement know well that the slave-holder spired with the belief that their with the writings of those wh S were in- a »} Pi ? chattels’ would prove Bier I . bd - . " .? " T . Y* faithful allies. For example, W. Gilmore Sums, in his Pro-slavery Argument, p. 2 EMPLOYMENT OF NEGROES IN WAR. “ oe > easeNnt to Vou. has seen fit to prese1 cre Pore ‘ experience in all the trials and vicis “Two years of expericnt ey n . ’ MnO. , pi ie )] ion situdes of war, attended with the repeated ex yet ‘ 5 « : 4 : ‘no fran ne to the of Massachusetts regiments marching from Sipoesi | A CAO CE / e ‘ : : , a - . S lvoestec scenes of strife, have left little to be said or sug: , ogi a - ’ raltyv an occasion which could give the interest of novelty to an < “1 "7? ‘va’ T= ; : } mander, one circumstance pt like this. But, Mr. Commander, on Pare ncaa " 1 of . s . omy 2 5 ini osition of the Fifty-fourth Negimel! taining to the compositiol : nai ga exceptional in its character when compared with ) XCCPtl lic i ; i ‘ "ee - hour wn thine we have yet seen before, gives to thi: | 4 A 4 c ‘ ae . = sa ; rat erand, because interest and importance, solemn and yet grand, 19* MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. the occasion marks an era in the history of the war, of the commonwealth, of the country, and of humanity. I] need not dwell upon the fact that the enlisted men con- stituting the rank and file of the Fifty-fourth Regiment of Massachusetts volunteers are drawn from a race not hitherto connected with the fortunes of the war. And yet I cannot forbear to allude to the circumstance, be- cause I can but contemplate it for a brief moment, since it is uppermost in your thoughts, and since this regiment, which for many months has been the desire of my own heart, is present now before this vast assem- bly of friendly citizens of Massachusetts. prepared to vindicate by its future, as it has already begun to do by its brief history of camp-life here, — to vindicate in its own person, and in the presence, I trust, of all who belong to it, the character, the manly character, the zeal, the manly zeal, of the colored citizens of Massa- chusetts, and of those other States which have cast their lot with ours. ““T owe to you, Mr. Commander, and to the officers who, associated with you, have assisted in the forma- “ tion of this noble corps, composed of men selected from among their fellows for fine qualities of manhood, —I owe to you, sir, and to those of your associates who united with me in the original organization of thi LS - 7 bd . . ") body, the heartiest and most emphatic expression of my “he; RY > oe > cordial thanks. I shall follow you, Mr. Commander . your olicers, and your men, with a friendly and per- sonal solicitude, to say nothing of official care, which can hardly be said of any other corps which has marched from Massachusetts. My own personal honor, SPEECH OF GOVERNOR ANDREW. if I have any, is identified with yours. I stand or fall, as a man and a magistrate, with the rise or fall in the history of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment. (Applause.) I pledge not only in behalf of myself, but of all those whom I have the honor to represent to-day, ] the utmost generosity, the utmost kindness, the utmost devotion of hearty love, not only for the cause, but for you that represent it. We will follow your fortunes in the camp and in the field, with the anxious eyes of thren, and the proud hearts of citizens. ‘¢'lo those men of Massachusetts and of surrounding States, who have now made themselves citizens of Mas- sachusetts. | have no word to utter fit to express the . 5 rm . - oS : emotions of my heart. ‘These men, sir, have now. in the providence of God, given to them an opportunity i which, while it is personal to themselves, is still an op- portunity for a whole race of men. (Applause.) With ims possessed of might to strike a blow, they have found breathed into their hearts an inspiration of de- voted patriotism and regard for their brethren of their own color, which has inspired them with a purpose to . | > # hoe = 1 ty ; " nerve that arm, that it may strike a blow, which, whil 4 it shall help to raise aloft their country’s flav, — their e ~~, RE . y country’s flag now as well as ours, — by striking down ty he foes which oppose it, strikes also the last blow, I trust, needful to rend the last shackles which bind the limb of the bondman in the Rebe “1 know not, Mr. Commander. when.in all human eS ° 4 ’ ] rn VC hi; tory, to any given thousand men in arms there has 4 been Committed a work at once so proud, so precious, so full of hope and glory, as the work committed to . MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. you. (Applause.) And may the infinite mercy of Almighty God attend you every hour of every day, through all the experiences and vicissitudes of that dangerous life in which-you have embarked ; may the God of our fathers cover your heads in the day of bat- tle ; may he shield you with the arms of everlasting power; may he hold you always most of all, first of all, and last of all, up to the highest and holiest conception of duty, so that if, on the field of stricken fight, your souls shall be delivered from the thraldom of the flesh, your spirits shall go home to God, bearing aloft the ex- ulting thought of duty well performed, of glory and reward won, even at the hands of the angels who shall watch over you from above. “Mr. Commander: You, sir, and most of your offi- cers, have been carefully selected from among the most intelligent and experienced officers who have already performed illustrious service upon the field during the last two years of our national conflict. IJ need not say, sir, with how much confidence and with how much pride we contemplate the leadership which we know this regiment will receive at your hands. In yourself, OO sir, your staff, and line officers, we are enabled to de- clare a confidence which knows no hesitation and no doubt. Whatever fortune may betide you, we know fromthe past that all will be done for the honor of the cause, for the protection of the flag, for the defence of the right, for the glory of your country, and for the safety and the honor of these men whom we commit to you, that shall lie either in the human heart, or Vrain, Or aril. SPEECH OF GOVERNOR ANDREW. 925 ‘And now, Mr. Commander, it is my most agreeable duty and high honor to hand to you, as the representa- tion of the Fifty-fourth Regiment of Massachusetts Vol- unteers, the American flag, ‘ the -star-spangled banner’ of the Republic. Wherever its folds shall be unfurled, it will mark the path of glory. Let its stars be the in- spiration of yourselves, your officers, and your men. As the gift of the young ladies of the city of Boston to their brethren in arms, they will cherish it as the lover cherishes the recollection and fondness of his mistress ; and the white stripes of its field will be red with their ] blood before it shall be surrendered to the foe. ‘‘[T have also the honor, Mr. Commander, to present to you the State colors of Massachusetts, —the State colors of the Old Bay State, borne already by fitty-three regiments of Massachusetts soldiers, white men, thus far, now to be borne by the Fifty-fourth Regiment of sol- diers, not less of Massachusetts than the others. What- ever may be said, Mr. Commander, of any other flag which has ever kissed the sunlight or been borne on any field, I have the pride and honor to be able to de- clare before you, your regiment, and these witnesses, that from the beginning up till now, the State colors of Massachusetts have never been surrendered to any foe. (Cheers.) The Fifty-fourth now holds in possession this sacred charge, in the performance of their duties as citi- zen-soldiers. You will never part with that flag so long as a splinter of the staff, or a thread of its web remains within your grasp. The State colors are presented to the Fifty-fourth by the Relief Society composed of col- ored ladies of Boston. 226 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. ¢And now let me commit to you this splendid em- blematic banner. It is prepared for your acceptance by a large and patriotic committee representing many others beside, ladies and gentlemen of Boston, to whose hearty sympathy, and powerful codperation and aid, much of the success which has hitherto attended the organization of this regiment is due. The Goddess of Liberty, erect in beautiful guise and form, liberty, loyalty, and unity, are the emblems it bears. The Goddess of Liberty shall be the lady-love whose fair presence shall inspire your hearts. Liberty, Loyalty, Unity, — the watchwords in the fight. ‘And now, Mr. Commander, the sacred, holy cross, representing passion, the highest heroism, 1 scarcely dare to trust myself to present to you. It is the em- blem of Christianity. I have parted with the emblems of the State, of the Nation; heroic, patriotic emblems they are, — dear, inexpressibly dear, to all our hearts ; . but now, ‘Jn hoc signo vinces, the cross which repre- sents the passion of our Lord, | now dare to pass into your soldier-hands; for we are fighting now a battle not merely for country, not merely for humanity, not only for civilization, but for the religion of our Lord itself. When this cause shall ultimately fail, if ever failure at the last shall be possible, it will only fail when the last patriot, the last philanthropist, and the last Christian, shall have tasted death, and left no de- scendants behind them upon the soil of Massachusetts. ‘This flag, Mr. Commander, has connected with its history the most touching and sacred memory. It comes to your regiment from the mother, sister, friends, 99 RESPONSE OF COLONEL SHAW. yl) family relatives of one of the dearest and noblest sol- dier-boys of Massachusetts. I need not utter the name of Lieutenant Putnam in order to excite in every heart the tenderest emotions of fond regard or the strongest feelings of patriotic fire. May you, sir, and these, fol- field of battle, but in all the walks low not only on the fter when on re- and ways of life, in camp, and herea turning peace you shall resume the more quict ¢ h . . ~ , ™ > peaceful duties of citizens, may you but follow the splendid example, the sweet devotion, mingled with f which the life, character, was one example. und manly, heroic character, 0 : eh 3 and death of Lieutenant Putnam How many more there are we know not; the record is not yet complete ; Massachusetts sons who, like | Inspired by such examples, fired but oh! how many there are of these tim, have tasted death tor this immortal cause ! | by the heat and light of love and faith, which illumined and warmed these heroic and noble hearts, may you, sir, and these march on to glory, to victory, _ to This flag I present to you, Mr. Com- every honor. 3 | In hoc signo vinces. mander, and your regiment. « RESPONSE OF COLONEL SHAW. “Your ExcenLency: We accept these flags with Y ° > . rr ‘a a ve 43 ] ‘ “ feclings of deep gratitude. They will remind us not only of the cause we are fighting for and left behind us who have of our coun- try, but of the friends we have thus far taken so much interest in who we know will follow us in our career. the greater number of men in this regiment are not c ‘e is » who will Massachusetts men, I know there is not one ¥ this regiment, and Though MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE, not be proud to fight and serve under our flac. MM: we ae an Opportunity to show that vou one at ghee in intrusting the honor of the Stat colored regim nt,—the first State that h: . A iis : ; to the war. : las Sent one “Tl am very am very ela ee glad to have this opportunity to thank i Cers s Af. rs a men of the regiment for their f ae ‘ir untiring | ity and devotion to their work from the a a | ¢ very eo ln- | *y have shown that sense of the import ANCe of our undertak taking, withou it which we should hardly have attained our end. = Ps the conclusion of Col. Shaw’s re marks, the color = orne to their place in the line by the ouard. : the regimet nt was reviewed by the povernie } TI ‘a Bids ment will join Gen. Hunter’s command in arid lina, as soon as tr: insportation can be ALTan g¢ a aoe pr yal bly ¢ mbark ae Boston.’’ "ae Che interest evathered about this reoiment scemed Increase as the day of its departure drew ae b v7 ardent friend of the colored man felt that its spe aes Se in a great measure, determine the shia CLLY 1e@ Cc ace il and courage - ood ent oe Re: edom, and its ability lntailing it. Should they act like cowardly children on the field of b: attle, in a war wae . c al ave at 2 side for their fio aid bondage, and on ih Be : LO ae ee se of bre: akino the oppressor’s HS u vole mig tL their friends be discouraged. ns = Kasi = LT seer, to equal, in intelligent Seen Te ; race ughting at their side, would pot 7 rg th a powerful a right to enslave them. Thou Home ne sands, there- THEIR DEPARTURE. fore, followed them with an intense interest, as they | our peaceful State to enter the fierce ordeal of an aci campaign against the foe of the country. In describing their departure, the Worcester Daily “Py made the following statements : — left for the seat of war, May “This regiment after receiving a splendid ovation from the citizen Boston, as well as from the people who happened sent from other parts of the State and cow The day was Ros tO be pre to attend the anniversaries. pleasant ; and when the regiment arrived at the de} from Readville, thousands of persons were present who testified their admiration by ! receive them, The regiment, escort and continuous applause. Gilmore’s National Band, then took up their line march, and passed through several of the prin of handk : streets, amid applause and the waving chiefs, to the State House, where they were joined Governor Andrew, accompanied by his sta ff, the St WO Le officers, members of the executive council, and m: distinguished men from all parts of the Stat procession then marched to the Common, where and staff, reciment was reviewe .d by the governor settee presence of an immense concourse of wesw by estimation, over twenty thousand. ‘The appearance of the regiment was a like and satisfactory, fully equalling the finest regiment that have left the State. The rece ption -ac genie: th was all*that the most enthusi istic friend of the ¢ olo It was a complete ovation dui SOLC race could desire. the entire route ; and no sign of disapprobatio1 20 1 Was VIsS- MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. ible in the immense crowd. Certainly, the departure of the first colored regiment from the North marks an era in the history of the war, as well as of the colored race. The hopes and prayers of every true patriot will go with them to the struggle; and the thanks of every lover of humanity will be given to Governor An- drew for the rare moral courage and energy he has manifested in carrying out a work so noble, amid the doubts of the timid, and the open opposition and ridi- cule of the ignorant and base.” How these soldiers conducted themselves, when, in so brief a time after their organization, they are ordered to storm the enemy’s fortifications on Morris Island, may be learned from the following reports of correspon- dents from the seat of war. When we remember that these were raw recruits, we may with confidence look forward to their still greater efficiency in the future. Their departure was on May 28,1863. The storm- ing of Fort Wagner took place in about two months thereafter. But we refer the reader to the following account contained in a letter from Edward L. Pierce, Esq., addressed to Goy. Andrew, from Beaufort, S. C.: “ BEAUFORT, July 22, 1863. “My Dear Sir: You will probably receive an official report of the losses in the 54th Massachusetts by the mail which leaves to-morrow : but perhaps a word from me may not be unwelcome. I saw the officers and men on James Island on the 18th inst., and on Saturday last, saw them at Brig.-Gen. Strong’s tent, as they passed on, a little before seven in the cvening, to Fort EVENTFUL HISTORY IN THE FIELD. Wagener, which is some two miles beyond. I had been the euest of Gen. Strong, who commanded the advance, since Tuesday. Col. Shaw had become attached to Gen. Strong at St. Helena, where he was under him, and the regard was mutual. When the troops left St. Helena they were separated, the 54th going to James Island. While it was there, Gen. 8S. received a letter from Col. Shaw, in which the desire was expressed for the transfer of the 54th to Gen. S.’s brigade. So, when the troops were brought away from James Island, Gen. S. took this regiment into his command. It left James Island on Thursday, July 16, at nine A. M., and marched to Cole’s Island, which they reached at four o'clock on Friday morning, marching all night, most of the way in single file, over swampy and muddy eround. There they remained during the day, with hard-tack and coffee for their fare, and this only what was left in their haversacks,—not a regular ration. From eleven o’clock of Friday evening until four o'clock of Saturday, they were being put on board the transport, the General Hunter, in a boat which took about fifty at a time. There they breakfasted on the same fare, and had no other food before entering into the assault on Fort Wagner in the evening. “The General Hunter left Cole’s Island for Folly Island at six A. M., and the troops landed at the Paw- nee landing about half-past nine A. M., and then marched to the point opposite Morris Island, reaching there about two o’clock in the afternoon. They were transported in a steamer across the inlet, and at five P. M. began their march for Fort Wagner. They reached MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. Brig.-Gen. Strong’s quarters, about midway on the isl- and, about six, or half-past six, where they halted for minutes. I saw them here. and they looked worn i WCary. f . i-A ron. Strong expressed a great desire to give them «_ and stimulants; but it was too late, as they were to lead the charge. They had been without tents dur- ihe pelting rains of Thursday and Friday nights. 1. Strong had been impressed with the high character the regiment and its officers, and he wished to assien ‘m the post where the most severe work was to be ic, and the highest honor was to be won. I had lays, and knew how he re- “ n his guest for some ¢ garded them. The march across Folly and Morris islands was over a very sandy road, and was very weari- me. ‘The regiment went through the centre of the land, and not along the beach where the marching easier. When they came within six hundred yards ‘ort Wagner, they formed in line of battle, the colonel ling the first, and the major the second, battalion. his was within musket-shot of the enemy. There is little firing from the enemy, a solid shot falling be- ‘en the battalions, and another falling to the right, no musketry. ‘At this point the regiment, together with the next ipporting regiments, the 6th Conn., 9th Maine, and 's, remained half an hour. The regiment was ad- recruiting of fifty thousand negroes into regiments, for PROGRESS OF ENLISTMENT. 951 service in this department, as soon as they can be pro- ‘ured. The first regiment of South Carolina Volun- teers, under Col. T. W. Higginson, is now nearly full ; and yesterday Col. Montgomery, formerly of the Third Kansas Regiment, arrived by the Star of the South, from New York, with a commission to raise the sec- ond regiment. There will be little impediment in the way of quickly doing this, if—as I am informed will be the case —the work of cotton-planting is not carried on next spring, and the able negroes now on the plantations within our lines are encouraged to en- list. Last Wednesday Gen. Hunter dropped in acciden- tally at the review of the first regiment, just previous to its departure on transports, upon an expedition down the coast, the object of which | have not heard. The regiment made a fine appearance, numbering about eight hundred men, and parading six hundred muskets. All of the men who had received military instruction during the past two months, and more especially the veteran companies first formed by Gen. Hunter, did ad- mirably. Whatever mistakes were made were those of the white officers, and these mistakes were of distances required in the various evolutions, for which the cap- tains can alone be held responsible. It is impossible to conceive any higher aptitude for receiving military in- struction than these negroes exhibit. Their changes in front, formation in square, and preparation to charge in double column, were executed with a harmonious rapid- ity and precision scarcely to be surpassed by any regi- ment in the command, although more than one-half the men have not been under a month’s instruction.” 252 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. Of the progress made in the organization of these troops it is impossible to speak at present with any defi- niteness. One writer, speaking of the enlistment of these soldiers in Philadelphia, says, “‘ The first regiment of colored United States Volunteers is complete, and another is in progress of formation. Col. Tilehman, of the veteran 26th Pennsylvania Volunteers, has accepted the command of the first ; and Capt. John W. Ames, of the 11th Regular United States Infantry, has been nom- inated for the second. Col. Tilghman is a son of the Chief Justice Tilghman stock, and withal a fine soldier and hieh-toned gentleman. Capt. Ames is a graduate of Harvard, and son of Judge Ames, of Boston, and grandson of Fisher Ames. The Philadelphia black- enlistment movement is a complete success, command- ing the hearty approval of loyal people of all classes.”’ Another writer at Washington says that the War Department is pushing the organization of black troops vigorously. The success of our forces in the West has given a fresh impetus to enlistments among the blacks in that direction, and by autumn it is estimated that at least one hundred thousand negroes will be under arms in the valley of the Mississippi. It has been decided to raise four colored regiments in the District of Colum- bia. The first is complete, and the second rapidly ap- proaching completion. General Thomas, who has been commissioned by the government to inaugurate their policy in the West, has lately, on his return, given some account of his experience, and of what has so far been accomplished. The Philadelphia Press reports. the following brief outlines : -—— - 1 OrO LABORS OF GENERAL THOMAS. 253 ‘General Thomas, at considerable length, spoke of his mission West; of the powers vested in him by the administration ; of the prejudices he had to combat ; of the discouragements at first thrown in his way, even by some of the most loyal men in the army; but he was happy to say that he had been most successful, and that before he returned home, which he was obliged to do on account of a severe illness, he had fully organ- ized twenty thousand contrabands. One leading gen- eral in the West, whom he did not name, was at first opposed to the policy; but before General Thomas left, he heartily indorsed it, and scarcely a man in the army ean now be found, who does not believe that an impor- tant part is yet to be taken by the contrabands in the work of suppressing the rebellion. At one place it was given as the opinion of the general in command, that one regiment might possibly be raised. Before he left that place, three full regiments were organized. On one point the testimony of General Thomas was emphatic, and that was the fighting qualities of the negro. He had witnessed them at Milliken’s Bend and other places, where they had exhibited a degree of determination, bravery, and heroism, which he ventured to say had not been surpassed anywhere in the history of the war. Gen. Thomas, in concluding, said he intended to start to the West to-day, to finish the work he had com- menced on his first visit, and he had strong hope that before the close of the year he would have fully organ- ized, equipped, and drilled one hundred thousand contra- bands, who, with the consciousness of the fight in them, would render valuable service in the final overthrow of 22 254 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. one of the most causeless and wicked rebellions known in the history of the world.” The work thus begun is now being carried forward by our Western generals, as the following account from the department of General Rosecrans proves: — “This general has issued an order,’ says a writer, ‘arming all the negroes in his department. I have not seen the order: but understand it is to the ef- fect that all negroes employed as servants, by officers, and otherwise in the army, are to be immediately or- eanized into regiments and armed. A second clause constitutes a board of examination, whose duty it is to examine officers of the army applying for commissions as officers of these regiments. Among others named as constituting this board, I remember only the name of Col. Parkhurst, 11th Michigan. He tells me that offi- cers thus applying are to be examined as to their pecul- iar fitness to control negroes, as well as to their ability to drill and discipline them as soldiers. ‘There are now about seven thousand negroes in the department who will be thus armed, and the number is increasing daily. I should not be astonished to report, in two months hence, ten thousand negro soldiers as forming part of this army. It has been discovered here that a company in Nashville. and the Nashville rebel organ of Isham "G. of free negroes was at one time organized by the rebels Harris expressed the opinion that each one could whip ten Yankees. As the white rebels had never claimed that they could whip more than five Yankees, the Nash- ville Union argues (and the army professes to accept the argument) that a negro is twice as good as a secession- PROVISION FOR THEIR SUPPORT. 259 ist. The question is not likely to remain long without practical solution.” The civilizing process thus going on among our cit- izens of African descent has yet a great work to accom- plish among a large portion of our Southern fellow-citi- zens, denominated the “ poor white trash.” We deeply commiserate these neglected people, who, but for the crushing effect of slavery upon free labor, would not now be placed so far behind the average civilization of the Free States. Their redemption, too, is nigh. It gives us pain to insert the following too truthful picture, as the writer can affirm from what he has himself wit- nessed in portions of the South: — “All the citizens of the country in which the army now lies depend entirely upon it for daily support. They go each morning in squads to the different divi- sion headquarters, and draw food upon orders issued by the provost marshals of each division. It is estimated that many thousands in the vicinity of Winchester, Tenn., are thus fed by our troops. Most of these are women and children whose natural protectors are in the rebel army, or who are in our hands as deserters. The men are eenerally very old, and the boys are all under fifteen. Those liable to do military duty are gone, and not likely to get home soon. I talked with a great many of the women who came to Rousseau for their rations, and find them in most cases indifferent to the return of their liege lords. There is a startling amount of immorality among them. In their habits, such as smoking, chew- ing, and ‘dipping,’ they are most disgusting. I was sitting in the tent of Capt. Williams, at Rousseau’s, a 256 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. day or two since, admiring the delicate, well-turned features of a woman who, had she been educated, would have been thought beautiful, and was about to express some such idea to Capt. Williams, when she turned her head to one side, and, with the air and appearance of a practiced chewer, ‘ spirted’ a stream of saliva from her thin lips, and then throwing away the tobacco she had been cheeking, took from her pocket a small vial of snuff, and with a spoon-shaped bit of wood filled her mouth with the filthy drug. ‘ Major, allow me,’ said another young and beautiful damsel to a friend of mine who had just filled his pipe. At the same time she took a cob-pipe from her pocket, and filled it with the Major’s strong smoking tobacco, and puffed away with the most perfect, but by no means charming =) non- chalance. The ignorance of this people is as disgusting as their manners. Iam told by some members of the Christian Commission that they have ten times the number of applications from slaves for reading-matter, primers, &c., that they have from the white citizens. At the headquarters of General Rousseau, at Cowan, rations are issued to two hundred and thirty-five per- sons daily, and the picture I have drawn of them will apply to all I have seen in this vicinity. I have seen no ‘ better class of chivalry’ as yet. I suppose and hope they have gone South.” Another portion of the field is thus described by a cor- respondent of the St. Louis Democrat, who recently passed from Cairo to Vicksburg, from which we make a brief extract : — “A river continually traversed by gunboats, bearing WESTERN COUNTRY DEPOPULATED. 257 upon its bosom large numbers of military transports, the banks of the river lined with frowning batteries, barren fields, depopulated villages, and a general sus- 7 pension of business, gives but a poor photograph of the appearance of the country, late the tacatre of hostile contests. From Cairo to Vicksburg, a distance of six hundred miles, not a score of human beings, residents of the territory between those points, appeared on the river shores, with the exception of negroes, most of whom were women and children. ‘Southern conscription, the force used to compel able-bodied blacks to do the drudgery of the rebel army, together with the advance of our armies and the flight of cuilty rebels, have, as I have mentioned, depopulated Ixy i J plague. Nevertheless, thousands of helpless women, . ] nn onal “4 — the country as though it had been visited by a dead dependent children, and the aged and infirm of both sexés are to be found, at the different towns, landings, and farms. This class are to be supported, and, if un- able, as they are, to make a livelihood for themselves, must be the recipients of government charity. ‘To-day there are not less than seven-tenths of the citizens of Tennessee and Mississippi, living on the borders of the river. who are the receivers of alms from the govern- ment commissary. War is a certain leveller of all classes of one or the other of the contending parties. This is true in a social as well as a pecuniary sense. Men and women. who, before the war, revelled in all the luxuries of wealth, not deigning to notice the ‘ poor white trash’ among them, are to-day the associates ol Cc 99% — + eer ee ee I at Se ne pam et renee ten == — ee oun - SS meena mt = oases enna. apie rT —_ 258 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. — and in the same condition with their once less fortu- nate, but now nearly equal, fellow-beings We fe) “The most complacent class along the river are the American citizens of African descent, once lorded over on the plantations, but now lords of the same. Col- lected at the different military posts are to be found CHAPTER XV. hundreds and thousands of former slaves, —the male | 42, i rt ; rn . “De darkies at de Norf am ris, portion having enlisted in the Federal army, — the | And dey am comin’ down,— Am comin’ down, I know dey is, females and children, for the present, having settled To do de white folks brown ! near our camps, until provision shall have been made “ Dey'll turn ole massa out to grass, iii er ey fees Sey A ee erg eee poeere . And set de niggers free; for their colonizat 10n, Ol pl Cpal ation made to relieve : And when dat day am come to pass, them from a state of dependency.” We'll all be dar to see! * So shut your mouf as close as deaf, And all you niggas hole your breaf, And do de white folks brown!” ——oc1o—-— THE CONTRABANDS — WHAT TO DO, AND HOW TO EMPLOY THEM —REPORT OF GOVERNMENT COMMISSIONERS— REPORT OF EMANCIPATION LEAGUE—A PLAN FOR THEIR COLONIZATION AND SUPPORT ON ROANOKE ISLAND —WHAT THEY HAVE DONE IN LIBERIA THEY MAY DO BETTER HERE—THE DARKY MAK- ING HIMSELF COMFORTABLE. = employment of this army of male contrabands must necessarily leave a large number of depend- ent women and children, whose fathers and protectors have enlisted in the army, to be supported in some way. To leave them, in the present unsettled condition of the various military districts, to perish, would be most inhuman. We are glad to find that the govern- ment is alive to the work, and the most prudent meas- ures are being devised and executed to relieve their distress. What to do, and how to employ the contra- bands is, and will for some time be, a most perplexing P] ? o 269 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANR. wk. ry ‘ “> "T<« 7 T question. ‘To ascertain what could be done, the govern- ment some time since appointed Robert Dale Owen , , f , , James McKaye, and Samuel G. Howe, to inquire into the commissioners condition and necessities of the awac fran, ee » J . . ° slaves freed during the war. The commissioners have made a preliminary report concerning their investiga- Ana 7 ha :. = F Y ; y = tions in the District of Columbia. Kastern Vireinia y ‘ . ‘ . oe ’ North ( arolina, south ( arolina, and Florida | ne i Boston Journal gives the following synopsis of this report : — “In e rave 1047 . Ire ‘ : ; ; th three sections lirst-named, the Commission are confident that the freedmen need not | e, for any length of time, dependent upon the government for assistance. ‘T'hey are loyal, faithful. and willing to work; docile and uncomplainine. negroes of South Carolina and Florida are of an essentially differ- ent character, havine been much degraded by the harsh- ness of thi peculiar institution.’ The most etfective Ncypny ty OI TO whe ve Tt . . . , asency to give character to the race is found to be mili- lary training; and the Commissioners are of opinion that one hundred thousand negroes might be profitably employed as military laborers, and three hundred thou- sand as soldiers in the field. This number of able-bod- ied men, represent a population of a million and a half, being nearly one-half of all the colored people in ¢ insurrecionary states. * To provide for this population 110 | : ly ‘ve Ta) ‘ m4 , yet A= then, becomes an important question, and a system ot guardianship is recommended. though, with the accom- panying refiection, that such an arrangement must be only temporary in its character. ce Py . ‘ (’ [Aro ’ . . “ The plan ol provisional orgamzation which they REPORT OF GOVERNMENT COMMISSIONERS 961 suggest includes a Superintendent General of Freed- men, to rank as a Brigadier-General, with his headquar- ters at Washington ; three Department Superintendents, and below these, Resident Superintendents for each important station, with assistants, clerks, and other offi- cers. Under these officers the refugees are to be con- stantly employed, receiving fair wages, that*they may learn that emancipation does not mean idleness, or gra- tuitous labor. The importance of educational and religious instruction is also strongly urged, and the eagerness of these people to receive it is dwelt upon. “The Commission express the opinion that the care of the refugees should be substantially separate from the ordinary military administration of the army, and are confident that, if a judicious selection of officers be made, the plans they propose will meet with practical ' 1g 29% SuCCeSS. * The following important order from General Grant, bearing upon this sub- ject has been issued :— HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF TENNESSEE, VICKSBURG, MIss., Aug. 10, 1863, General Orders, No. 51: I, At all military posts in States within this Department, where slavery has been abolished by the proclamation of the President of the United States, camps will be established for such freed people of color as are out of employ- ment, II. Commanders of posts or districts will detail suitable officers from the army as superintendents of such camps. It will be the duty of such superin- tendents to see that suitable rations are drawn from the Subsistence Depart- ment for such as are confided to their care. III. All such persons supported by the government will be employed in every practicable way, so as to avoid, as far as possible, their becoming a burden upon the government. They may be hired to planters or other citizens, on proper as- surances that the negroes so hired will not be run off beyond the jurisdiction of the United States. They may be employed on any public works, in gather- ing crops from abandoned plantations, and generally, in any manner local com- manders may deem for the best interests of the government, in compliance with law and the policy of the Administration, MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. IV. It will be the duty of the provost marshal at every military post to see that every negro within the jurisdiction of the military authority is employed by some white person, or is sent to the camps provided for freed people. V. Citizens may make contracts with freed persons of color for their labor, given wages per month in money, or employ families of them by the year on plantations, etc., feeding, clothing, and supporting the infirm as well as the able-bodied, and given a portion of not less than one-twentieth of the commer- cial part of their crops in payment for such service. VI. Where negroes are employed under this authority, the parties employing will register with the provost marshal their names, occupation, and residence, and the number of negroes so employed. They will enter into such bonds as the provost marshal, with the approval of the local commander, may require, for he kind treatment and proper care of those employed, as security against their being carried off beyond the employer’s jurisdiction. VII. Nothing in this order is to be construed to embarrass the employment of such colored persons as may be required by the government. By order of Major-General U. 8. Grant. T. S. Bowers, Acting Assistant Adjutant General. We learn from the Journal above referred to that the committee of the Emancipation League of Boston re- cently addressed a circular letter to those having charge of negroes within our military lines in the South, ask- ing information as to their condition and capacity for gist of self-support. The replies are published, and the g them is appended : — ‘‘ Gen. Saxton estimates the number of contrabands in the Department of the South at about eighteen thou- sand, of which number twelve thousand are in the State of South Carolina. At Key West and other points in Florida there are about six thousand according to ac- counts. The general says the negro has shown as much willingness to work as white men would do un- der the same circumstances. They have no desire to come North. They are very anxious to be educated, and their children learn as fast as white children. The negroes are described to be more pious than moral ; Ag REPORT OF EMANCIPATION LEAGUE. 203 but freedom and the doctrines of liberal Christianity will develop the moral element. “©. B. Wilder writes from Fortress Monroe to the same effect. He says that two thousand negroes have been employed by the government at ten dollars per month, while white laborers get twenty-five dollars per month and found. Many of the negroes have been paid nothing, or next to nothing, and the government owes them $30,000. “ Rev. Samuel Sawyer writes from Helena, Ark., that there are four thousand contrabands there; that they are temperate, are more chaste than the whites; that they have no wish to go North; that their docility, sub- ordination, and kindred virtues are remarkable, and that they are capable of making as much progress in all that is elevating as the poor whites among whom the writer has had many years’ experience. ‘‘George D. Wise, quartermaster to the Western flo- tilla, speaks favorably of the great service rendered by the negroes at Cairo last summer. They were more temperate, obedient, and generally serviceable than the white laborers. Lieut. Wise says the Southern negro is much more intelligent than the lower order of white people in the Slave States, which arises from their better associations, and the greater physical comforts they have enjoyed. He adds, however, their treatment by the officers of the government, ‘as a rule, has been brutal and cruel in the extreme. What they need is what they have long been promised, but never had, — protection from the abuses of rebel sympathizers, and reasonable encouragement and opportunity to get a living.’ 264 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. “QO. Brown reports from Craney Island (Hampton toads) that there are at that depot thirteen hundred and eighty-one negroes, of whom only two hundred are men. They are all willing to work. One hundred of the men are getting wood, and assisting in the construc- tion of barracks, and fifty others are engaged in catch- ing oysters for the use of the island. The government pays them nothing; but many have sayed fifty to one hundred dollars during the past year, while they had an opportunity of working for themselves. They do not desire to go North. Even house-servants decline the offer of good wages and permanent homes from their partiality for the Southern climate. Mr. Brown favors the scheme of colonization for these people. **Chaplains Fitch and Ferman made a report from the Arkansas district substantially the same as that of Mr. Sawyer, alluded to above. They fix the amount of back pay due the contrabands by the government at S50.000. ““). B. Nichols, Superintendent of the Contraband Department, reports that three thousand three hundred and eighty-one contrabands have passed through that camp within the last six months. Five hundred re- main. Out of the whole number, Mr. Nichols says . ) ‘I have not been able to persuade more than fifteen or twenty to go North, notwithstanding the most liberal offers have been made to them.’ He adds, ‘They de- sire to remain on the soil where they were born if they can do so and enjoy their freedom.’ “From the reports it appears that there is every- where a lack of system as to the employment and pay _~ ee " . Or! COLONIZATION ON ROANOKE ISLAND. ZOO of the negroes, which should be remedied. All the facts brought out go to show not only that the philan- thropists of the North have a great work before them in the care and training of the freed negroes; but also the necessity of a wise and comprehensive system on the part of the eeneral government, which will soon have on its hands hundreds of thousands of these help- less grown-up children. If justice is done them, the negroes will ultimately take care of themselves; but during the transition period, and especially while the war poes on, they will necessarily be wards of the gov- dviinentt: and it should make ample provision for the fulfilment of this novel class of duties.”’ Since the above reports were made, considerable prog- ress has been made in several military departments, in bringing something like order out of the confused state of life in which the contrabands are living. In the de- partment of North Carolina the Rey. Horace James has been commissioned by Gen. Foster to set forth the claims of the freed people of North Carolina. Considerable aid is needed for the support of the families of those who have enlisted in the army. The government has appro- priated Roanoke Island for a new colonization of the loyal colored people who have flocked within our lines. They need comfortable cottages, and consequently build- ing ‘materials, agricultural implements, clothing, and a thousand little comforts of which they are at present destitute. The eenerosity with which the people re- spond in the Free States, will help, in a great measure, to solve the great problem before the country. , The black race have already accomplished much in 23 be | 266 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. Liberia, where they have had to struggle against much greater obstacles than they will, in future, have to encounter here. The soil and climate of the Souther States is certainly as favorable to their development and prosperity as the coast of Africa. Colored men of un- mixed African blood have gone from the Southern States to Liberia, and risen to the highest posts of influ- ence and responsibility. The last account from that country states that the biennial election resulted in the choice of Hon. Daniel Dashiel Warner as President. Mr. Warner was born in Baltimore, April 19, 1815, and reached Liberia, May 24, 1823, and has not since been out of the country. He is described as a man of integ- rity and ability, a successful merchant, and has accep- tably held several prominent public positions, among others, that of Secretary of State. He is now serving v © his second term as Vice President. and was lately Act- ing President during the absence, in Europe, of Mr. - Benson. A letter from Rev. A. Crummel, contains the follow- ing gratifying account of the progress which has been made in the African Republic : — “One thing strikes me most forcibly, namely: the immense number of bricks made this year, and the many new houses which are building. Some years ago thatched houses formed the habitations of our citi- zens. ‘They gave way to frame buildings. The day of frame buildings is past, and now brick buildings are springing up on every side. In our agricultural dis- tricts 1 see a very great change. There is less wood- land than when I left two years ago. New plantations THE AFRICAN REPUBLIC. have been opened; old ones are larger; more sugar- mills have been imported ; more sugar is in the market, and at a cheaper price. I wish I could say so much about cotton; but one fact | may mention. A friend of mine—one of my parishioners—is now buying cotton in goodly quantities from the natives, and as he buys, the quantity that comes increases. He has the largest hopes ; sends seed into the interior, and expects to stimulate its wide growth in the interior. Our cof- fee culture was never in such a prosperous and hopeful state as at present. I am trying to collect the facts pertaining to it, and I shall not be surprised if fully half a million of acres are planted this year. I hope our next legislature will be composed of able men, and that generous offers from abroad may meet with a favorable notice.” Who will doubt that with the proper protection of the government given to this race, so that they shall be secure in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, they will not accomplish still greater things. When we consider carefully all the facts, gleaned from various sources, so far, we look forward with confidence to the most encouraging and happy results. Even now the contrabands are not slow in making themselves as comfortable as circumstances will admit, as the following writer attests : — ‘‘] visited a camp of negroes near Memphis, on Sab- bath last, and was agreeably surprised to find so much of neatness and order in all their arrangements. The soldiers are scrupulously clean, well clad, regularly and rigidly drilled, compelled to keep within the camp, and, 268 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. above all, anxious to learn and perform the duties of good soldiers. Half the discipline among the white sol- diery would convert our army into a model of military management. About two hundred yards from the mil- itary camp is a ¢; contrabands, w itary camp Is a camp of contrabands, women. and chil- dren. Where tents have not been brought into requi- sition, huts have been improvised and furnished in the most sumptuous manner, without regard to expense, from the extensive decorations of the palatial residences of their former owners. To give you an idea of the manner in which one of the huts was furnished, a de scription will not be uninterest ing, at least, in showing the changes fortune makes in war. xg ‘ “Modern negro huts are constructed out of round logs, the interstices filled with mud, a chimney of rocks and mortar creeping in the rear of the building above the roof. Within is a floor of earth, flat upon which is laid a Brussels carpet, the net cost of which before the war was from one dollar and fifty cents to three dollars per yard! The room— there is only one — is generally about ten or twelve feet square. In one corner is a plano, upon one end of which is a guitar; on the other a pile of ‘middling, (the reader must understand that middling means, down South, ‘ bacon’) the piano and accompaniments giving a middling musical air to the interior. Mahogany chairs, a spring mattress, bedstead, wc., &C., Complete the comforts of one of : the negro huts, of which, in this country, there are not a few.”’ | Ihe question continually asked, in respect to the Af- rican race, is, Will they work? Are they capable of assuming the responsibilities of freedmen? These A SLAVE BORN TO COMMAND. 269 questions can only be answered by facts. During a residence of many years in the South, the writer of these pages, a Southerner by birth, studied the institu- tion of slavery with Northern eyes, which had no doubt been somewhat enlightened by six years of study in Northern institutions. Living, at the time to which reference is now made, in a district almost wholly slave-holding, and brought into daily contact with the lives of the masters as well as the slave, he had some opportunity to judge of their ‘apacity and willingness to labor. I well remember S., left, when quite young, with a large plantation and many slaves to manage. He had been a spoiled child, and the associates he formed after he grew up exercised over him a vicious influence. He developed but little business capacity adequate to the responsible post he vas expected to occupy. Fortunately for him and his pecuniary interests, there was found among his servants (slaves) a man of most remarkable powers for one of his race. Solomon was the acknowledged ruler and overseer of the plantation. He was aman of hercu- lean form and power, of a massive head, with intelli- gence and power shining in every feature. He under- stood, as if by instinct, every fault in his master’s at- tempted management of the plantation. 5. at length found it wise to resign his affairs to his care and keep- ing. He entered upon his stewardship as a man confi- dent of his ability to accomplish so responsible an un- dertaking. This man had not the slightest mixture of white blood in. his veins. Beneath his ébony features the stamp of genius had been imprinted by nature. 23* MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. ‘he slaves of the plantation feared him, and he ruled them as with a rod of iron. That plantation had the reputation of 1 raising more grain, of being ke pt in better condition, as to the richness of soil and attention to buildings, fences, and the many important items of farm- ing, than any in the neighborhood. Without education, e xcept what Nature gave him, he was, nevertheless, as shrewd in his business transactions as he was prompt in keeping his contracts. When we compared this uneducated African, m: anaging so skil- fully and successfully this large est ite, with the effem- inate and incompetent maste r, we must confess that Solomon, in our eyes, came up more fully to the meas- ure and capacity of aman. If this man could so con- tribute to his master’s wealth, notwithstanding the cir- cumstances of his birth, why not to his own? Would he fight? He seemed born to command. He had the stamp of a Hannibal in his face, CHAPTER XVI. “Prejudice isan unreasoning and remorseless despot; but Prejudice is more frequently de- throned than any other tyrant. And I predict that the time is coming, and it may dawn in your day and mine, when the colored people will be found among the most devoted defenders of the American Union. The war, like athunderstorm, clears away many clouds; the prejudice against the colored people is one of them. Let us, then, thank Heaven thatif the rebellion has been a sore trial to our beloved country, it has cleansed us from many sins, and induced us to look for- ward to a brighter, because a better, future.” — eo PREJUDICE AGAINST THE AFRICAN RACE CONSIDERED—THE NEW YORK MOB AND THE SUFFERINGS OF THE NEGRO— BURNING OF THE COLORED ORPHAN ASYLUM —NOTES OF PER- SONAL OUTRAGES—CONDUCT OF THE BRITISH CONSUL-GEN- ERAL—ADVICE OF THE GREAT O’CONNELL. ; the present chapter we design to consider some of the difficulties in the way of the advancement of the African race on this continent, on the ground of prejudice. This prejudice exists North as well as South, and among various classes of the people. The slave-holder has rio prejudice against the negro so long as he is aslave; but the moment he seeks to rise in the scale of being, and takes part with him in the du- ties of the citizen, his antipathies are aroused. The poor whites of Raleigh, as soon as they encoun- tered Lunsford Lane asa free man.— freed as the result of his own labors,—said, “You are only a nigger, after all.” lt will be through much tribulation, and a persistent 271 272 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. course of well-doing, that our colored fellow-citizens will be able to overcome this deep-seated prejudice. God often over-rules our severest trials as the procurer of our richest blessings. A signal instance of this is seen in the late persecution of the colored people of New York, and in other cities. The vials of wrath against these unoffending people seemed now to be unstopped, and heir contents poured out. We stop not now to consider the immediate cause of this outbreak. Let our politi- cians do this. We are considering only the facts. The future historian will feel only shame as he writes the brief paragraph in our social annals of the New York riots of July, 1863, and the treatment received by this people. That our adopted fellow-citizens from the Green Isle should have participated in these scenes is surprising. In no country is there less prejudice toward them. Here they are indeed free. Here they may rise to any position of influence, with no disabili- ties to impede their advancement. We esteem them highly for their virtues and industry. We are rejoiced to see them so steadily increasing in wealth and in hap- piness. Why, then, should they seek to crush the poor African who, too, seeks to rise ? That we may see the ruinous and irrational and even barbarous extent to which this prejudice may run, if indulged, let us briefly review these late riots. We will not go into the brutal particulars. We simply state results. One account estimates that three thousand colored people have been .made homeless, penniless, and desti- titute, by the recent mob. The situation of these un- BURNING OF THE COLORED ORPHAN ASYLUM. 273 fortunate victims of brutality and violence has attracted the attention of the wealthy citizens of New York, and in accordance with the views of a meeting of mer- chants and others, recently held, arrangements will soon be made to relieve the wants of those who are known to be in a suffering condition, as well as to ascer- tain the whereabouts, and minister to the necessities of many more who are probably secreted in places of doubtful security. Another report states that a list of all the colored per- sons now in the care of the commissioners of charities and correction of the city (New York) comprises five hundred and twenty persons. Three hundred and six- teen of the number are actual refugees from the city, and two hundred and six are children from the Colored Orphan Asylum, which was burned to the ground by the mob. Three clergymen are among the first class referred to. The following is an account of the burning of the Or- phan Asylum for colored children. It was visited by the mob at four o’clock :— “This institution ‘is situated on Fifth Avenue, and the building, with the grounds and gardens adjoining, extended from Forty-third to Forty-fourth Street. Hun- dreds, and perhaps thousands of the rioters, the major- ity of whom were women and children, entered the premises, and in the most excited and violent manner, they ransacked and plundered the building from cellar to garret. The building was located in the most pleasant and healthy portion of the city. It was purely a chari- table institution. In it there are on an average six MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. hundred or eight hundred homeless colored orphans. The building was a large four-story one with two wings of three stories each. ‘When it became evident that the crowd designed to destroy it, a flag of truce appeared on the walk oppo- site, and the principals of the establishment made an appeal to the excited populace ; but in vain. ‘Frere it was that Chief Engineer Decker showed himself one of the bravest among the brave. After the entire building had been ransacked, and every article deemed worth carrying away had been taken,— and this included even the litile garments for the orphans, which were contributed by the benevolent ladies of this city,— the premises were fired on the first floor. Mr. Decker did all he could to prevent the flames from being kindled ; but when he was overpowed by superior num- bers, with his own hands he scattered the brands. and effectually extinguished the flames. A second attempt was made, and this time in three different parts of the house. Again he succeeded, with the aid of half a dozen of his men, in defeating the incendiaries. The mob became highly exasperated at his conduct, and threatened to take his life if he repeated the act. On the front steps of the building he stood up amid an infuriated and half-drunken mob of two thousand, and begged of them to do nothing so disgraceful to humanity as to burn a benevolent institution, which had for its object nothing but good. He said it would be a lasting disgrace to them and to the city of New York. ‘These remarks seemed to have no good effect upon BURNING OF THE COLORED ORPHAN ASYLUM. 275 them, and meantime the premises were again fired, — this time in all parts of the house. Mr. Decker, with his few brave men, again extinguished the flames. This last act brought down upon him the vengeance of all who were bent on the destruction of the asylum, and but for the fact that some firemen surrounded him, and boldly said that Mr. Decker could not be taken ex- cept over their dead bodies, he would have been des- patched on the spot. The institution was destined to be burned, and after an hour and a half of labor on the part of the mob, it was in flames in all parts. Three or four persons were horribly bruised by the falling walls, but the names we could not ascertain... There is now scarcely one brick left upon another of the Or- + phan Asylum.’ We append in the note some particulars of the bru- talities enacted by the mob.* * OUTRAGES UPON COLORED PERSONS. Among the most cowardly features of the riot, and one which intimated its political animus and the cunningly-de- vised cue that had been given to the rioters by the instigators of the outbreak, was the causeless and inhuman treatment of the negroes of the city. It seemed to be an understood thing throughout the city that the negroes should be attacked wherever found, whether they offered any provocation or not. As soon as one of these unfortunate people was spied, whether on a cart, a railroad car, or in the street, he was immediately set upon by a crowd of men and boys, and unless some man of pluck came to his rescue, or he was fortunate enough to escape into a building, he was inhumanly beaten, and perhaps killed. There were prob ably not less than a dozen negroes beaten to death in different parts of the city during the day. Among the most diabolical of these outrages that have come to our knowledge is that of a negro cartman living in Carmine Street. About eight o’clock in the evening, as he was coming out of the stable, after having put up his horses, he was attacked by a crowd of about four hundred men and boys, wko beat him with clubs and paving-stones till he was lifeless, and then hung him toa tree opposite the burying-ground. Not being yet satisfied with their devilish work, they set fire to his clothes, and danced and yelled and swore their horrid oaths around his burning corpse. The charred body of the poor victim was still hanging upon the tree at a late hour last evening. MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. That it is exceedingly difficult to divest ourselves of j is admitted; and yet it is not much credit to our civilization to say that the prejudice Py these prejudices Early in the afternoon, the proprietors of such saloons and other places of business as had negroes in their « mploy, were obliged to close up, for fear that the rioters would destroy their premises. In most of them the negroes were compelled to remain over night, not daring to go home lest they be mobbed on the way. The following is, perhaps, one of the worst cases of brutality which has been yet recorded since the revolting scenes of this riot have commenced to be en- acted :— “At a late hour on Wednesday night, a colored man, whose name we could not obtain, was passing along West Street, in the neighborhood of Pier No. 5, North River. He was evidently a laboring man, and was dressed in a tarpaulin, a blue shirt, and heavy duck trousers. As he was passing a groggery in that Vicinity, he was observed by a body of dock-men, who instantly set after him. He ran with all the swiftness his fears could excite, but was overtaken before he had gone a block. His persecutors did not know him, nor did they enter- tain any spite against him, beyond the fact that he was a black man, and a laborer upon the docks, which they consider their own peculiar property. Nev- ertheless, they pitched into him, right and left, knocked him down, pulled him up by the hair, kicked him in the face and ribs, and finally, by the hands of their leader, de liberately cut his throat. The body, dead they supposed it, was thrown into the water, and left to sink. Fortunately, life was not extinct, and the sud den plunge brought the poor fellow to his senses, and. being a good swimmer, he was enabled instinctively to seek for the net-work of the dock. This he soon found ; but was so weak from loss of blood, and so faint with pain. that he could do no more than hold on and wait for day. Yesterday morning, Messrs. Kelley and Curtis, of Whitehall, discovered him lying, half-dead, in the water. They at once attended to his wants, gave him in charge of the police boat, and had him sent to the hospital. The escape of the man from death by the successive abuses of beating, knifing, and drow ning, is most wonderful.” says another account :— “Our poor blacks are fleeing in all directions. No place is safe for them. About three miles from the South Ferry, on the road to East New York, isa settlement of negroes, called Weeksvilk . About one thousand of them reside there. Some of them are quite we althy. The men are servants, and the women take in washing, and tend the gardens. They are orderly and quiet. During all this trouble, these poor creatures have been in dreadful fear. On Wednes- day night it was rumored that the place was to be pillaged and burnt. The he Ip- less people took what little they could carry, and fied to the woods, and, like frightened sheep, clung together all the night, no oned iring to go to sleep. They do not know what to do, nor where to go. They come bounding into the cars, only to be turned out, as the conductors are in fear of the mob.” NOTES OF PERSONAL OUTRAGES. 59 against “negroes” is, of all known prejuilices, the meanest and the worst, and that it has no other basis, except ignorance. $9 ‘¢ Some prejudices says Greville, “are to the mind a what the atmosphere is to the body, We cannot feel without the one. nor breathe without the other. And again, ‘to divest one’s self of some prejudices would be like taking off the skin to feel the better.’’ We admire the promptness of the British Consul-Gen- eral of New-York, when he was advised of the outrages inflicted upon many black sailors belonging to English The Evening Post says the colored people have determined to defend them- selves hereafter. ‘To this end the colored residents of the Eighth Ward have of late been busy in fortifying and strengthening the section which is large ly popu lated by them. This consists of parts of Sullivan and Thompson Streets, be tween Broome and Grand. At this point they have decided to make a stand, and feel confident that they can resist any attack which will be made, or at least hold out until reinforcements shall arrive. Whoever attacks them will have an opportunity of testing what virtue there is in firearms, hand-grenades, boil- ing water, and brickbats. An exploration of the negro settlement on Staten Island, known as ‘“ Rocky Hollow,’ reveals the fact that the colored people have not yet dared to return to the homes whence they have been driven by the violence and threats of a brutal mob, but are hiding in the woods, and suffering for want of the necessaries of life. THE TROY MOB AND THE NEGROES. The Troy Times says, — ** One of the meanest and most contemptible incidents of the mob reign in this city was its demonstration against helpless and unoffending negroes, who had dias nothing to provoke the hostility of their persecutors. A large number 1 LG- of these poor persons fled the city in a panic of terror. Some tw Hty-live, inch ing the pastor of the church on Liberty Street, which was menaced, found a ref- uge in Sandlake, One family of four persons was charged by a hackman ten dol lare for being carried eight miles. Others found their way to Lansingburg, Green bush, and Albany. A large number have been living in out-houses on the Poes- tenkill flats, compelled, for no offence against law or order, to leave their em- ay ployments and homes, where they enjoyed much of comfort. Of course these last-named are ina state of destitution. They would have famished, had not benevolent farmers and citizens living near by provided scantily for their imme- diate necessities. It is a burning shame to our city that any who are entitled to its protection are thus banished from it.” 2¢ 278 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. ships, in providing immediate security. In the absence > , e Rie, ee ten “4 . P . of an English war-ship at that port, he applied to the commander of the French frigate Guerriere, Admiral | a as Bs wee i iymond, to take this class of persons under his diate protection. The admiral consented. and two hundred blacks on board of his vessel. The Brit- ish frigate Challenge, Capt. Kennedy, arrived soon alter, when the negroes were transferred to her from the F sent from the Consulate. rench frigate, with one hundred others, who were Men of great souls seldom entertain prejudices against the innocent and unoffending. It is generally the unprincipled and low-bred who can afford to indulge these disreputable thoughts and acts. The Catholic Telezraph,* of Cincinnati. prints a long letter of remonstrance, addressed, in 1843, by Daniel O’Connell, and a committee of Irishmen to a committee of Irish citizens of Cincinnati, who ventured to rebuke O’Connell for his anti-slavery sentiments. The reply of the great Irishman is pungent. He does not spare his sarcasms. He overwhelms the luckless Cincinnati committee with reproaches on their meanness in abus- ing the down-trodden, and taking part with the oppres- sor. ‘The letter, which is to be published in pamphlet form, concludes as follows :— ‘Irishmen! sons of Irishmen! descendants -of the kind of heart and affectionate in disposition, think, oh think only with pity and compassion on your colored jellow-creatures in America. Offer them the hand of . * See Boston Journal for July, 1863. ADVICE OF THE GREAT O'CONNELL. 279 kindly help. Soothe their sorrows. Scathe the.r op- pressor. Join with your countrymen at home In one ery of sympathy with the enslaved and oppressed : — ‘Till prone in the dust Slavery shall be hurled, — ts name and nature blotted from the world.’ “Once again, —and for the last time,—we call up- on you to come out of the councils of the slave-owners, and at all events to free yourselves from participating in their guilt. ‘‘Trishmen, I call upon you to join in crushing slav- ery, and in giving liberty to every man of every caste, creed, or color.” CHAPTER XVII. “ There is a poor, blind Samson in this land, Shorn of his strength, and bound in bonds of steel, Who may, in some grim re vel, raise his hand, And shake the pillars of this commonweal, Till the vast Temple of our liberties A shapeless mass of wreck and rubbish lies.” | an -~<>o——_—. NEWS FROM THE OLD FOLKS AT HOME—LETTER FROM MEM- PHIS, TENN.—LUNSFORD AT SCHOOL—VISIT OF LAFAYETTE TO RALEIGH—LUNSFORD NOTICED BY HIM — LAFAYETTE’S OPINIONS—THE LYCEUM AT THE MINERAL SPRING—THE NE- GRO DEBATERS — THE FREEDMEN AT PORT ROYAL, AS SEEN BY A WRITER IN THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. -,. reader of the foregoing narrative may perhaps feel an interest in learning something of the sul LOS@- quent history of some of the persons to whom reference has been made. Civil war haS no doubt made many changes in the condition of Lunsford’s friends. The children of Mr. Haywood, his former master, ever en- tertained the strongest attachment toward Lunsford and his father, Uncle Ned. On learning of his death, which occurred, as stated in a preceding chapter, in Wren- tham, Miss Lucy, now Mrs. D. Bryan, who had been carried so many times in the arms of Uncle Ned, ad- dressed to his bereaved widow a very consoling letter. It seems that Mrs. Bryan’s husband’s father owned a fine plantation, to:'which Mr. Bryan had fallen heir, 280 . PR NEWS FROM THE OLD FOLKS AT HOME. 281 where they had gone to reside. It is to be supposed that their mansion had ample accommodations for their numerous visitors, from the name given it. It was near to Plymouth, on the Roanoke River. Lunsford, Miss Lucy, and Miss Delia were children together. The latter afterward became Mrs. Badger, wide of the Hon. George I. Badger. Aunt Clarissa, Lunsford’s mother, in Mrs. Haywood’s time, had charge of the dining-room, and held the keys of the pantry. The children, of whom there were four boys and five eirls, knew where to go when the coyeted delights of the pantry were to be unlocked. Is it strange that . 7 r iwysrA y hara v4 Aunt Clarissa was long and affectionately remembered ¢ “HOTEL NEAR PrymovutTa, N. C., Feb. 23, 1858. ‘“ My Dear Aunt Cuarissa: Your letter to your sis- ter, directed to me, was duly received, and not being at home, I forwarded it to Matilda at Raleigh. I sin- cerely sympathize with you in the loss of your husband. You had lived together so long and so happily that you must feel this dispensation of God as a great affliction. Tam pleased to see that you show so much Christian resionation in your trouble, and hope you will live many years to comfort your family. You have always been 50 faithful and affectionate to our family, that I, as well as the other members, feel great respect and affec- tion for you. When you left us to go to a strange land, we felt that we had parted from a dear friend. My ood old mother (Mrs. Haywood ) departed this life two years ago last December. Her disease was paraly- sis. She had a great many heirs. 24* 282 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. ‘Your sister (Lunsford’s aunt) Matilda was given her freedom by Mrs. Hogg (this was one of Mr. Hay- wood’s daughters). You know who I mean,— Miss Sally. Dr. Hoge built a room for her, and Miss Sally gave her Clarissa (Matilda’s own daughter) to wait on her. Matilda looks well. and is yet a smart, ac- tive woman. Alex., her husband, is living, and has changed very little. All the old people about Raleigh, pretty near, are dead. Mrs. Henry Haywood is the only one of the old set that is living. Maria, my sister, is living on a comer of the four-acre lot, where the old mansion stand@ ‘There she built a pretty cottage, near where the old blacksmith shop stood, at the back of the garden. She thought she could take better care of her servants. She has one or two about the house and gar- den, and hires out the rest. . But you know we look upon our servants as friends, and not as slaves, and we feel as much for them as if they were children. (Luns- ford, on reading this portion of the letter, and looking back upon his past history, and that of his offspring, could hardly admit the truth of this statement.) The abolitionists say a great deal about Southern people ; but you know from your own experience, and that of your family, that you never received any but the kind- est treatment. I often think of the*time when you went to New York with me; how I persuaded you to stay (Clarissa, having left a husband, a son, brothers and sisters in Raleigh, felt naturally a desire to see them), and when I would cry, you were so tender- hearted and kind you would promise to stay. When you did leave, | felt most wretched. I am now staying NEWS FROM THE OLD FOLKS AT HOME. with my son William. The place once belonged to William’s grandfather, and is a pretty place. I have only five children left, — two sons and three daughters, — having lost three. Of the old house-servants, nearly all that you knew are dead. Billy Noyes, (the carpen- ter) is still living, and Green (the teamster). Hasty (the cook) lives with me. I took her to care for her. She is quite smart and active, and cooks very well. sam Mac (Lunsford’s uncle), as he is called, —I be- lieve he is a brother of Uncle Ned’s,— is still living. Mr. William Boylan* is the oldest man in Raleigh now. His son, Mountfort, has quite an interesting family, and lives four miles from Raleigh. It is his intention to build a large house where his father lives at present. Then the old people will remove to their residence in the city. I believe I have told you all the news I can think of at present. Jl was indeed glad to hear that you had the comforts of life, and wanted for nothing. William, my son, remembers your name well. He was a little child when you took him to New York. I think of you with feelings of great pleasure, and believe me to be your affectionate friend. ‘ Lucy D. BRYAN.?’’ B. B. Smith, from whom Lunsford purchased his “nn wife and children, kept up a correspondence with Luns- ford for some time after his removal to the North. He continued to traffic in negroes and merchandise as long ’ as the trade was profitable. As Mr. Smith was a prom- inent and influential member of the Methodist Church * This gentleman proved himself the truest friend of Lunsford in Raleigh. 284 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. South, Lunsford never understood how he coula make his professions and his practices of a business kind con- sistent. Mr. Smith, when a child, had inherited a little slave, —a girl of great smartness and beauty. Lenda, on reaching womanhood, married and had one son, Washington. Of course she loved this, her only child, as only a mother can; but the child belonged not to her. When the maternal care was no longer needed, he was, in his master’s eyes, as any other marketable com- modity, to be sold or bartered —— Washington was $9 a “likely negro,” and at fifteen or twenty commanded a good price. A Mr. alia of Buffalo Creek, residing some twenty miles from Raleigh, was the lucky pur- chaser. Whether there was any sadness in the mothe heart at parting thus with her son, was a matter about which Mr. Smith cared but little. Several years had passed by, and as yet she had heard no word from her child. At length the season of the quarterly came, and with it Mr. Blake, the presiding el the neighborhood of Buffalo Creck. One evening, ai ing the meeting, Lunsford overheard a conversation be- tween Mr. Blake and Lenda, the former being the guest of Mr. Smith. She sought information concerning the boy, Washington. Her inquiries were satisfied to this extent,—no more. The Rev. Mr. Blake had seen Wash- a bi his master had declared to him that the boy was wor *¢ five asta dollars!’ He t thought this was paying a high compliment to her son, which would be most satisfying to this poor slave-mother. dent was a slight one, but was never forgotten by Luns- ford. Nota word did this Christian minister utter in LETTER FROM MEMPHIS, TENN. 285 regard to the boy’s moral well-being, or a consoling sen- tence to the mother. The last denice obtained in regard to Mr. Smith speaks of his having exhausted all his property, and at length was striving to ade his family upon a small salary, as town-clerk of Ralei i This was, indeed, a very humble position for Mr. Smith: and we are almost inclined to look upon it as one of th compensations in that just discipline that a wise Provi- dence administers to all his childre: ree received another letter aa an individual who prefers not to give his name. It is quite a spicy epistle ; but inasmuch as Lunsford had neither brother nor sister, he cannot be the person referred to. If it was a trick to catch Lunsford in Cincinnati, for the pur- pose of his being kidnapped, it did not succeed: as he had no desire to undertake a journey to see a family with whom he had no acquaintance, and to whom he was in no way related. The letter is as follows : — ‘“ MpempnHis, TENNESSER, June 2, 1846. ‘“ Drar Strr:—From what I have hir and seen I have concluded to write you a few lines for your considera- tion and Infomation. In the year of 1520 may, one Tho. Bond stop at Franklin this state and hierd out eome 40 or 50 slaves and in the fall of sd yeare he sent his servant Nelson Back to North Carolina after N. Wife named Harriet. Nelson and hur disagree and afterwards took up with a White Man and they had several Children and the man has bout Harriet and hur Children accept the one by Nelson and sent them to Cincinnati Ohio. Harriet left hear this day week for ee en en 286 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. cincinnatti ohio. She came on a viset to see hur Daughter Silvey Nelsons child that is yet a slave I have often hird Harriet speak of you and Stephen and hur sisters Chaney and Rebacca that you all once be- long to Grisey “Sin and She married, 1 thenk George tion (Lunsford knew absolutely nothing of these per- sons). If you wish to corrispond with Harriet address Mrs Harriet S Rolls Cincinnati Ohio to the Care of Mr William Rolls, or if you wish to Viset hur take the cars at Baltimore for Cumberland and from thear by the Stage 131 to Wheeling V.a on the Ohio River and thear take Steamboat to Cincinnatti Ohio it costs 11$ from Baltimore to Whealling and 5$ from Wheeling to cincennatti ohio or did this time 2 year ago. If you eo to see Harriet she lives on 5 stree I think and en quire for Harriet Sharp or hur daughter Mary or hur son Anduson sharp. they ar freed in the name of sharp they ar all weel and doing well Wm Rolls is a black smith and has a Family and belong to the DBabtist Church and Harriet also. Rolls is a bout the coller of Harriet. The Reason I write this [pistle is 1 have the North Carolina Standard dated Raleigh N.C. May 13, 1846 and in this paper I see a leter Written in Wethers- field Connecticut stating that Lunsfud Lane says that he was born in Raleigh and belong to a Mr Sherwod Haywood and after his deth you bought your self and pd 1000$ and that you also bought from B B. Smith, your wife and 7 children and that you lecture in the Babtist Church and that you ar trying to Rase money to cause the slaves to run a way from thear Masters in the South next August. Tho I expect that you have LUNSFORD AT SCHOOL. IST seen it in the Paper and that you speak of Inserrection &C. All that I have to say to you on that subje et is that Tam a Friend to Harriet and live in one ol f the South West States and if you ware to come to one of those slave States and it was known that you ware one of them kind-of Men you would be killed Without Judge or Jury. I wish you to do Well and if you permit me to advise you, | say attend to your own business and let othersa lone Harriet can let you know who lam. 1 will write to hur and send the paper concerning - T | of you, [ never saw you ne ther was I ever in N.C. the Paper also states that you have gone to Bestin to live your ‘Brother Harris lives in Mississeppi he was well last year he marred and we ight about 190 lb ONE acon anos ill As Lunsford never had a brother, some “* One” is la boring under a misapprehension, which to this day he has had no opportunity to correct. sons who have seen and conversed with Many per Lunsford Lane have been surprised at his intelligence, uae, his gentlemanly manners, and his fine use of languag He has never been to school a day in his life, in the sense that we understand the term, and yet he has had considerable schooling. He was a diligent student in the school of experience - and having meriegce s and he made considerable prog- oe. He dil- ress in the acquisition of useful niowtolel faculties common to others, fered from others of his race more in respec t to his in- dustrious habits, and determination to better his tion, than in any other qualities. His early manhood condi- OHQQ e ZOO MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. be passed during a period peculiarly favorable at the South for the slave’s advancement. That they wer c ‘ Cre not slow at improving these onnor 7 t improving these opportunities, we may learn from several incidents taken f Sd n several incidents taken from the reminiscences of Lunsford’s history. Years before the name of aboli- tionist was heard in the Southern States, at least in ; sense odious to slave-holders, a certain fan 5 oe dom was allowed to slaves in their social and religious meetings; it was not the custom to require white per- sons to attend colored funerals; all these meetings were so many schools, where the slaves Beh Bien their views upon various subjects, and even debated questions affecting their own well-being ; gentlemen’s servants, selected for their natural intellivence, forming as they did, quite a large class at the South, were in tte habit of attending their masters at great political paler. ings and barbecues. In this way Lunsford and aihien heard most of the distinguished orators of the South We are speaking now of Lunsford’s experience at taleigh, and that section of North Carolina; and the same is true of other intelligent servants who occupied a similar relation to their masters. Lunsford has a vivid remembrance of many important political gather- ings, and of the individuals who were prominent in these popular discussions. He has heard on frequent occasions, Calhoun, Preston of South Carolina, Rail aee stanly, Judge Gaston, Judge Ruffin, Mangum, piss OUers. a | Mh. 1 cA it tallica a “ ° That these intelligent slaves should be inspired with ¢ ra ‘ ihartyv Cc } r > a love of liberty, as they listened to the fervent por- trayal of the superiority of American freedom over the LAFAYETTE’S OPINIONS. despotism of Europe, is not at all strange. On one of a. these occasions, the Rev. Dr. McPhetus, o! taleigh, was called upon to make a prayer, and, after fervently } thanking the Supreme Governor of all things for the privileges enjoyed and secured to us by our free insti- tutions. he introduced the sentiment that made a deep Lunsford, “that wt was and lasting impression upon impossible to enslave an intelligent people.” Lunsford pondered the words and discussed them again and again, as opportunity offered, with other servants; and the more they were revolved in their minds, the more determined they became that they would be free. About the year 1824 an incident occurred in Luns- ford’s experience, of a very interesting nature. It was the meeting of Lafayette at Raleigh. Lunsford acted as one of the waiters at the great dinner civen in the He felt it a pleasure to serve him Governor’s palace. Lafayette never loved slavery, even in this relation. white or black; and in years after this visit, when he contemplated the extent to which the institution had ‘nereased in those very States that he had with his own sword fought to make free, he felt a degree of shame which he did not hesitate to express, — shame and indig- nation which no language of his could adequately por- tray. “I would never.” said he on one occasion, “* have drawn my sword in the cause of America, if I could have conceived that thereby I was founding a land of slavery.” And again, while in the prison at Magede- burg, he said, ““I know not what disposition has been made of my plantation at Cayenne ; but I hope Madame de Lafayette will take care that the negrocs who culti- 25 907 : ker 9 sis MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. LYCEUM AT THE MINERAL SPRING. 291 ré > 7 ehe APAG “TA 4 a : : $9 : . a . > . ‘ setif q° fta vate it shall preserve their liberty. Lunsford, as he were spent in the discussion of various questions ; often » . on TAC “~~ ; . ‘A : "a | ’ : 6 4 »y? : beheld this great man, and thought of his services in the audience would be entertained by the sp aker's behalf of freedom. felt proud to be even his waiter and fa speech he had ‘ TO ¢ . , rAGM ’ ”a i . ‘ a ‘ + woalz na slave as he was, he felt his noble words in advoe; acy of heard at some political meeting during the week with human rights stirring his own soul to a firmer deter- his master. So witty became the debates of the colored sores than ever, not only T to he fre a, but to advoec ate people at the orove, th: ut the Ww hite pe opl : woul | come ~ oieé } . ) ft, Jat +] Ara ‘ } Lbs ( laims | , ror OL rs. On the day following his re- in large numbers to listen. Many masters eve n fe ht ception, Lafayette met ivinge from memory the substance 0 o oS ? hoir claves ‘ Lunsford and handed him a ten- proud o f the erowing smc irtness of thell sli Lives, und dollar note which he desired he should ret chanced “vane these efforts while the y ap ypeared harmless. into smaller denominations. He generously handed Thus many of the smarter class of slaves learned the Lunsford a silver dollay with +] oe aro at Jenoth filled with an irre- istord a silver dollar, with the request that | value of freedom, and were at length filled with an irre F i 1e would Te. wTtrin a ha ra 4 ; , newr Gistripute the rest among the other servants as a token pressib le desire to secure it even at the hazi rd of then of his appreciation of their kindness. lives. But these palmy days ol slavery soon pass ed ic c r Te , , ‘ La i . ‘ JAP} It is not strange that Lunsford and other intellicent away, not because abolitionists at the North had beer S "vs : T TATA > . bd . . : - — ) —— : . ra iv y servants, " ho vere present with their masters on the there tO infuse among these slay CS a ck Bart 101 ret lom, ICCE S] -afarrea ‘ er. ? ; — 3 » tar « rhile oceasion reterred to, and hear Ing the very lancuac but hecause the pressure oft slave ry he ing for a while and sentiments of freedom. should have desired their lifted, that innate love of freedom had a brief time to ae ae oe liberty also. It was the custom of the colored people erow. The slaves themselves are the original abolition- oS 7 : ; » », 7 % a ‘ iia 2s sea a ~ i i P ] ‘ . ol Ral ih, both { fre e and slave. to assem) le eve ry Sab- ists : the story ol their Wroneds has simply mad us bath afternoon during the pleasant weather at a famous their advocates at the bar of public opinion. Phes« mineral spring in the suburbs of that aah ‘ai we mectings, everywhere in the South, were suppressed as have no design to approve of such a custom, we shall soon as the native intelligence i the slave took the peak of it only as a means whereby the slaves found a direction of a desire for iret dom, and at the present 7 _ y , ] rs F Qs TAS j Vv 9tever ki d are SUD- Opinions, and for day all catherings 01 slaves of whatever Kin i The hours of the after- pressed by statute. Their religious meetings were aiso noon, beneath the pleasant shade and around the spring placed under the surve ‘illance of white preachers. Many 5) who had learned the value of freedom, as Lunsford did, those who were way for the free expression of their the cultivation of their minds. *O. Lafayette, eee of General Lafayette, in April 26, 1851, says, a letter written as late ag ‘This gre s -etele s at question of the abolition of neero sl; which has my entire sympathy, appears to me t throughout the world. At the present time, the States of the Peninsula, if I do not decei S ive myself, are the only European powers who stil] continue to possess into the Northern } States a slaves ; and America, while continuing to up! ! d g phold slavery, feels dail : » ctarv heir wrongs ; that Sapir hibe? Wasclp dr motehs sccm her pak 9 : s daily, more and ears willing to listen to the story of thel JES | sought in all law! ful ways to obtain it ; away, and penetrat ted even into 4 ‘anada ; z they 1 found avery, oO have est; :blished its importance unable to purchase it ‘an 909 " ZUzZ MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. ] IC ry id Se ré <>) ; 7 these wrongs awakened deep sympathies is not strange: h. vebtsd ) L 6 r it? ; 7 that they made many abolitionists is what we should exnec Tha ictolrza va, m1 ‘ r 1ol xpect. The mistake committed was originally by the " rg | , CO TAG ¢ OW ] masters themselves: they should not have allowed so Orriyn « ihart1 7 2 ha ve val ré 7 y large a liberty; the race was found far more capable of : tre 1 p/ ] IVT ¢ ' elevation than they suspected, and hence to retain them as slaves LW | Ra 2s they must be kept in the profoundest ignorance. ry s \. + : ] ,;)* ] f° ' 7, Che September number of the Atlantic Monthly con- tains quite an extended article upon the A freedmen at Sadie leap a : Port Royal. We design to close this chapter with a < a c oe ’ a. - ] ° . brief synopsis of the article, with such remarks as our Own acquaintance with the subject may suggest. Be 2 . ‘ " =P " . \ oT, (AQ ha not! ; ‘ ’ i +4 sides, the length of that contribution may prevent some trom giving it as careful a perusal as it deserves. The writer speaks from a personal knowledge of what he has himself seen, during a visit to the islands, and the various schools at present in suecessful operation. And lirst,in regard to educational matters. More than thirty schools are already established in the territory " ae and over forty teachers are employed in the various de- partments, commissioned by “ three associations in Bos- OY Taur 4 el ‘ ) ; V4 Ty ; ton, New York, and Philad lnhia, and by the Am 5 erican Chere is an average attend- 7 1A f 6¢ y ; ance of “two thousand pupils; and more or ] Missionary Associat ion.’ we ess fre- quented by an additional thousand.” The writer visited ten schools, and conversed with the teachers of others ‘On the twenty-fifth of March, ‘I visited a school \, _ >. ° | . + Central Baptist Church, on St. Helena Island at the , built in 1855, shaded by live-oak trees, wi , Shaded by live-oak trees, with the long, pendu- lous moss everywhere hanging fr ir wi ’ moss everywhere hanging from their wide-spread- FREEDMEN AT PORT ROYAL. ing branches, and surrounded by the gravestones of the former proprietors, with the ever-recurring names of Fripp and Chaplin. This school was opened in Septem- ber last; but many of its pupils had received some in- struction before. One hundred and thirty children were present on my first visit, and one hundred and forty-five on my second, which was a few days later. This school, like most on the plantations, opened at noon, and closed at three o’clock, leaving the forenoon for the children to work in the field, or perform other service in which they could be useful. One class of twelve pupils were using Wilson’s Reader and read with little spelling or hesitation. They had recited thirty pages of Town’s Speller, and had made some progress in the multiplication-table. A few, among the younger, were learning the alphabet. “They sang at the close of the school, with much spirit, appropriate hymns, — ‘My country, ’tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty.’ ‘ Sound the loud timbrel.’ ‘Also Whittier’s new song, written expressly for this school, the closing stanzas of which are, — ‘The very oaks are greener clad, The waters brighter smile ; Oh, never shone a day so glad On sweet St: Helen’s isle! For none in all the world before Were ever glad as we, — We’re free on Carolina’s shore, We’re all at home and free.’ 25* 294 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. ‘¢ Never has that muse, which has sung only of truth and right, as the highest beauty and noblest art, been consecrated to a better service than to write the songs of praise for these little children, chattels no longer, whom the Saviour, were he now to walk the earth, would bless as his own.”’ This writer then gives us several specimens of their native songs, as sung by the children. We have heard these long enough, and we hope the good taste of the refined young ladies at Port Royal will substitute others more sensible and elevated in language. Northern people love to hear these songs as specimens of negro ignorance. Let us now endeavor to teach them some- thing better. Here is a specimen which should not be tolerated in these schools : — “In de mornin’ when I rise, Tell my Jesus, Huddy oh? * In de mornin’ when I rise, Tell my Jesus, Huddy oh ? I wash my hands in de mornin’ glory, Tell my Jesus, Huddy oh ? I wash my hands in de mornin’ glory, Tell my Jesus, Huddy oh ? Pray, Tony, pray, boy, you got de order, Tell my Jesus, Huddy oh ? Pray, Tony, pray, you got de order, Tell my Jesus, Huddy oh ?” We hope the day may soon come when all such illit- ite, we will not say senseless, songs will be discour- d by all who wish and are laboring for the true en- lichtenment of the African race. * How d’ y’ do, SCHOOL AT COFFIN POINT. 290 The uncouth and vulgar exhibition of “negro min- strelsy ” we trust has also had its day. In this school were found three teachers, — two ac- complished young ladies from the North. “The third is a young woman of African descent, of olive complex- ion, fine culture, and attuned to all beautiful sympa- thies of gentle address, and, what was especially notice- able, not possessed with an overwrought consciousness of her race. She had read the best books, and nat- urally and gracefully enriched her conversation with them. She had enjoyed the friendship of Whittier ; had been a pupil in the grammar school of Salem, then in the State Normal School in that city, then a teacher in one of the schools for white children, where she had received only the kindest treatment, both from pupils and their parents, and let this be spoken to the honor of that ancient town. She had refused a residence in Europe, where a better social life and less unpleasant discrimination awaited her, for she would not dissever herself from the fortunes of her own people ; and now, not with a superficial sentiment, but with a profound purpose, she devotes herself to their education.” Another school at Coffin Point, on St. Helena Island, was visited, taught by a young woman from Milton, Massachusetts. ‘One class had read through Hillard’s Second Pri- mary Reader, and were,as a review, reading lessons 19, 20, and 21, while I was present. Being questioned as to the subjects of the lesson, they answered intelligibly. They recited the twos of the multiplication-table, and explained numeral letters and figures on slates. An- 296 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANR. other teacher in the adjoining district, a eraduate of Harvard, and the son of a well-known Unitarian cler- gyman, of Providence, Rhode Island, has two schools, in one of which a class of three pupils were about finish- ing Ellsworth’s First Progressive Reader, and another of seven pupils, had just finished Hillard’s Second Pri- mary Reader. Another teacher, from Cambridge, Mas- sachusetts, on the same island, numbers one hundred pupils in his two schools. He exercises a class in Elo- cution, requiring the same sentence to be repeated with different tones and inflections, and one could not but remark the excellent imitations. “In a school at St. Helena Village, where were col- lected the Edisto refugees, ninety-two pupils were pres- ent asl wentin. Two ladies were engaged in teaching, assisted by Ned Loyd White, a colored man, who had picked up clandestinely a knowledge of reading, while still a slave. One class of boys and another of girls read in the seventh chapter of St. John, having begun this Gospel, and gone thus far. They stumbled a little on words like ‘unrighteousness’ and ‘ circumcision ;’ otherwise, they got along very well. When the Edisto refugees were brought here, in July, 1862, Ned, who is about forty or forty-five years old, and Uncle Cyrus, a man of seventy, who also could read, gathered one hun- dred and fifty children into two schools, and taught them as best they could for five months, until teachers were provided by the societies. Ned has since received a donation from one of the societies, and is now regu- larly employed on a salary. A woman comes to one of the teachers of this school for instruction in the - r OQ SCHOOL ON LADIES ISLAND. 297 shildre ; She evening, after she ‘has put her children to bed. She “ . in . e . P ae ° e 7. had become interested in learning by hearing her younger sister read when she came home from school ; and when she asked to be taught, she had learned from : . - eo e > » evils bh a, this sister the alphabet, and some words of one syllabl Only a small proportion of the adults are, however, learning. : > . P . 3. + e ~ , 4g “Qn the eighth of April, I visited a school on Ladies : Wh tia xoT « . ‘ Island, kept in a small church on the Kustis estate, and taught by a young woman from Kingston, Massachu- c >* io 7 setts. She had manifested much persistence in going to this field; went with the first delegation, and still keeps the school which she opened in March, 1862. She taught the pupils their letters. Sixty-six were present on the day of my visit. A class of ten pupils read the story which is found on page eighty-six of Hil- lard’s Second Primary Reader. One girl, Elsie, a full black, and rather ungainly withal, read so rapidly that she had to be checked, the only case of such fast read- ing that I found. She assisted the teacher by taking the beginners to a corner of the room and exercising them upon an alphabet card, requiring them to give the names of letters taken out of their regular order, which they were expected to repeat after her. One class re- cited in Baton’s First Lessons in Arithmetic, and two or three scholars, with a rod, pointed out the States, lakes, and large rivers on the map of the United States, and also the different continents on the map of the world, as they were called. I saw the teacher of this school, at her residence, late in the afternoon, giving familiar instruction to some ten boys and girls,— all but 298 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. two being under twelve years, — who read the tweuty- first chapter of the book of Revelation, and the story of Lazarus, in the eleventh chapter of St. John. Elsie was one of these. Secing me taking notes, she looked archly at the teacher and whispered, ‘ He is putting it in the book;’ and as Elsie ouessed, so I do. The teacher was instructing her pupils in some dates and facts which have had much to do with our history. The questions and answers, in which all the pupils joined, were these : — ‘“¢¢ Where were slaves first brought to this country ?’ 6 ¢ Virginia,’ “¢ When ?’ $6¢ 1620.” ‘“¢ Who brought them?’ ‘¢ Dutchmen.’ **¢ Who came, the same year, to Plymouth, Massa- 9 9 chusetts ? ‘6 ¢ Pilorims.’ ‘¢¢ Did they bring slaves ?’ **No.’ ‘A teacher in Beaufort put these questions, to which answers were given, in a loud tone, by the whole school : — “*¢ What country do you live in?’ “¢ United States.’ “¢ What State ?’ ‘¢¢ South Carolina.’ ¢¢ What island ?’ ‘¢¢ Port Royal.’ ““¢ What town ¢’ BPN PCN YT PO PPT PP TD TP DD PT PS ZH ne ad SCHOOLS AT BEAUFORT. ‘¢¢ Beaufort.’ ‘¢¢ Who is your governor ?’ “¢¢ General Saxton.’ “¢¢ Who is your president ?’ “¢ Abraham Lincoln.’ «¢¢ What has he done for you ?’ ‘¢¢ He’s freed us.’ “There were four schools in the town of Beaufort, all of which I visited, each having an average attend- ance of from sixty to ninety pupils, and each provided with two teachers. In some of them writing was taught. But it is unnecessary to describe them, as they were very much like the others. There is, besides, at Beaufort an industrial school, which meets two after- noons in a week, and is conducted by a lady from New York, with some dozen ladies to assist her. There were present, the afternoon I visited it, one hundred and thirteen girls, from six to twenty years of age, all plying the needle ; some with pieces of patchwork, and others with aprons, pillow-cases, or handkerchiefs. ‘Though I have never been on the school-committee, I accepted invitations to address the schools on these visits, and particularly plied the pupils with questions, so as to catch the tone of their minds; and I have rarely heard children answer with more readiness and spirit. We had a dialogue, substantially as follows: — “¢¢ Children, what are you going to do when you grow up ?’ “¢ Going to work, sir.’ “¢QOn what?’ “<< Cotton and corn, sir.’ 300 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. “¢¢ What are you going to do with the corn ?’ 6¢¢ Hat it.’ «¢¢ What are you going to do with the cotton ?’ 6¢ ¢ Sell it.’ «¢¢ What are you going to do with the money you get for it?’ ‘¢Qne boy answered in advance of the rest, — ’ “¢ Put it in my pocket, sir.’ “<¢That won’t do. What’s better than that.’ “¢¢ Buy clothes, sir.’ ‘¢<¢ What else will you buy ?’ s¢¢ Shoes, sir.’ ‘¢¢ What else are you going to do with your money ?’ ‘¢There was some hesitation at this point. Then the question was put, — «“<¢ What are you going to do Sundays?’ “¢ Going to meeting.’ “¢¢ What are you going to do there ?’ “¢¢ Going to sing.’ ‘¢¢What else?’ ‘¢¢ Hear the parson.’ “¢ Who's going to pay him ?’ “One boy said, ‘ Government pays him ;’ but the rest answered, — ‘¢¢ We’s pays him.’ “¢ Well, when you grow up, you'll probably get mar- ried, as other people do, and you'll have your little children ; now, what will you do with them ?’ ‘There was a titter at this question; but the general response came, — *¢¢ Send ’em to school, sir.’ SCHOOLS AT HILTON HEAD. ¢¢¢ Well, who'll pay the teacher ?’ «¢¢ We’s pays him.’ “One who listens to such answers can hardly think that there is any natural incapacity in these children to acquire, with maturity of years, the ideas and habits of cood citizens. “The children are cheerful, and, in most of the chools. well-behaved, except that it is not easy to keep them from whispering and talking. They are joyous, and you can see the boys after school playing the sol- dier. with corn-stalks for guns. The memory is very susceptible in them, too much so, perhaps, as it is ahead of the reasoning faculty. ‘The labor of the season has interrupted attendance on the schools, the parents being desirous of having the children aid them in planting and cultivating their crops, and it not being thought best to allow the teach- ing to interfere in any way with industrious habits. “A few freedmen, who had picked up an imperfect knowledge of reading, have assisted our teachers, though a want of proper training materially detracts from their usefulness in this respect. Ned and Uncle Cyrus have already been n entioned. The latter, a man of earnest piety, has died since my visit. Anthony kept four schools on Hilton Head Island, last summer and autumn, being paid at first by the superintendents, and afterward by the negroes themselves; but in No- vember he enlisted in the negro regiment. Hettie was another of these. She assisted Barnard at Edisto last spring, and continued to teach after the Edisto people were brought to St. Helena village, and one day brought 26 302 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. some of her pupils to the school at the Baptist Church, saying to the teachers there that she could carry them no farther. They could read their letters and words of one syllable. Hettie had belonged to a planter on Wadmelaw Island, a kind old gentleman, a native of Rhode Island, and about the only citizen of Charleston, who, when Samuel Hoar went on his mission to South Carolina, stood up boldly for his official and personal protection. Hettie had been taught to read by his daughter; and let this be remembered to the honor of this young woman. ‘Such are the general features of the schools as they met my eye. The most advanced classes, and these are but little ahead of the rest, can read simple stories and the plainer passages of Scripture; and they could even pursue self-instruction if the schools were to be suspended. ‘The knowledge they have thus gained can never be extirpated. They could read with much profit a newspaper specially prepared for them and adapted to their condition. They are learning that the world is not bounded north by Charleston, south by Savannah, west by Columbia, and east by the sea, with dim visions of New York, on this planet or some other, —about their conceptions of geography when we found them. “They are acquiring the knowledge of figures with which to do the business of life. They are singing the songs of freemen. Visit their schools. Remember that a little more than a twelyemonth ago they knew not a letter, and that for generations it has been a crime to teach their race; then contemplate what is now NEGRO INDUSTRY. transpiring, and you have a scene which prophets and sages would have delighted to witness. It will be dif_- cult to find equal progress in an equal period since the morning rays of Christian truth first lighted the hill- sides of Judea. Ihave never looked on St. Peter’s, or d beheld the glories of art which Michael Angclo has wrought or traced; but to my mind the spectacle of these poor souls struggling in darkness and bewilder- ment to catch the gleams of the upper and better light, gy that has ever o transcends in moral grandeur anythin come from mortal hands.” The writer next speaks of the industry of the ne- eroes, and it fully demonstrates what every sensible writer has said, that the only stimulant needed is remu- nerative wages, promptly paid, and a comfortable place of residence. In some instances, where the negroes had destroyed the cotton-gins, they have collected the scattered parts and brought them together, and gone to work on the promise of payment for their labor. It was found, on those plantations recently purchased by Northern men, and worked upon the free-labor principle, that there was no difficulty in obtaining hands, and the better the pay, the more the labor accomplished. Un- der a tropical sun, it is not expected that a man will do as much work as under the bracing climate of the North. On visiting Mr. Philbrick’s plantations, he saw fifty persons at work in one field, all belonging to one plantation. This gentleman had purchased, at the tax- sales, thirteen plantations. He had under cultivation eight hundred and sixteen acres, where four hundred and ninety-nine were under cultivation last year. All 304 MEMOIR OF LUNSFORD LANE. this labor was performed by former slaves, now working for wages. ‘The general superintendent of Port Royal Island,” said to the writer: ‘“ We have to restrain rather than encourage the negroes to take land for cotton.’’ In several instances negroes showed considerable “capacity to organize labor and apply capital.”’? One was found working a farm of three hundred acres, to do which he had employed a number of hands. The government have in their employ a number of freedmen erecting twenty-one houses for the Edisto people. The work is going on under the direction of Frank Barnwell, a freedman, having the direction of seventeen journeymen carpenters, all colored men. This writer next speaks of the ** development of man- hood.” They seem eager to improve - their condition in life, to become the owners of land, and to provide their families with the comforts and conveniences of civilized life. On this subject, we have, in the course of this history, given many facts, and made some statements, which the events at Port Royal fully maintain. We omit a further reference to this article for the reason that many incidents of a similar kind have al- ready been referred to in the preceding chapters. The rapid progress toward civilization, which this race is now making in our midst, no unprejudiced person can deny, or remain for a long time in ignorance. What the life of Lunsford Lane demonstrates, under less favorable circumstances, is being daily demonstrated by the thousands who have been emancipated by the military necessities of the war. QUESTION OF THE HOUR. 305 But whether our military necessities require a proc- lamation of emancipation or not, no human power can turn back the revolution begun. No Christian man can close his eyes to the very grave responsibilities rest- ing upon this and the succeeding generation. Over three million human beings have already passed through the first stage of advancement to manhood, and a capacity for freedom and the rights and blessings which freedom conveys. Shall we aid them kindly in eo the next great step, or shall we allow our prejudices to push aside or evade the answer to a question which in- volves the happiness or misery of millions of our fellow- men ? THE END. > 4 + , ; q i cl bal 1 * 4 >. Prilegan. rf 7 “Fes FSi ‘ : ~& ; inches ; 2 11 12 13 Centimetres © The Tiffen