Henry Watson

“ In travelling with this man, whose name I will not mention, I had cherished the idea of being my own master; but, returning to the State of Mississippi, my hopes left me for awhile, for it is almost a matter of impossibility for a slave to escape, on account of its situation; and added to that, there are men who do nothing else but hunt fugitive slaves with hounds that are so well trained, that they do, as they advertise, take slaves without scarring them enough to injure their value. ”

“ But, step back in the interior of slave States, on the plantations, where you see one hundred slaves in charge of a drunken overseer, thinly clad, and scantily fed; driven forth to labor from daylight till dark; where a slave for the most trivial offence may be whipped to death, for in case of death arising from whipping the overseer is indifferent,—he knows the master cannot use the word of his slave against him,—he will not acknowledge it himself. Thus there21 is nothing to restrain him from using the most unnatural and inhuman cruelty to the poor slaves. ”

“ Slavery has made labor dishonorable to the white man; and, as they must have means of living, they generally resort to gambling for support, and as they cannot always find their own color to rob, they fasten upon the poor, degraded slave, who has received some little trifle for an extra piece of labor, to gull from him that which he has paid so dearly for ”

“ My master always was a cruel man; but ever since his unsuccessful effort at reconciliation with his wife, he became a perfect tyrant, lashing his slaves without mercy. This shows one of the many ways in which the licentious slaveholder inflicts pain on poor slaves; robbing them, by force, of their virtue, then lacerating their backs for having allowed themselves thus to be forced. He had not been long on his farm before he took another of his slave-women to wife, by whom he had two children. These children were not treated any better than any other slave's ”

“ No slave can possess anything in his own right, or dispose of the produce of his own industry, without the consent of his master.
No slave can be party in a civil suit, or witness in a civil or criminal matter, against any white person. ”

“ Consider, that it is not yourselves; it is not the people you belong to; it is not the men that have brought you to it; but it is the will of God, who hath by his wise providence made you servants, because,30 no doubt, he knew that condition would be best for you in this world and help you the better towards heaven, if you would but do your duty in it; so that any discontent at your not being free, or rich, or great as some others, is quarrelling with your Heavenly Master, and finding fault with God himself. ”

“ Like the most of my brothers in bondage, I have no correct account of my age. Slaves keep the birth of their children by the different seasons of the year. Children often ask their parents their age. The answer is, "this planting corn time, you are six, eight, or ten," just as it may happen to be; but even this knowledge was I deprived of by my master, who was one of those proud Virginians, whose principal business was to raise slaves for the market; though I was permitted to remain with my mother on his plantation until I was about eight years of age. ”

“ Louisiana.—A slave is one who is in the power of his master, to whom he belongs. The master may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry and his labor; he can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire anything, but what must belong to his master. ”

“ The State Treasurer shall pay the owners the value of all slaves whose punishment has been commuted from that of death to that of imprisonment for life.
If any slave shall happen to be slain for refusing to surrender him or herself, contrary to law, or in unlawfully resisting any officer, or other person, who shall apprehend, or endeavor to apprehend, such slave or slaves, &c., such officer or other person so killing such slave as aforesaid, making resistance, shall be, and he is by this act, indemnified, from any prosecution for such killing aforesaid, &c. ”

“ The absolute barbarism of a 'public opinion' which not only tolerates, but produces such advertisements as this, was outdone by nothing in the dark ages. If the reader has a heart of flesh, he can feel it without help, and if he has not, comment will not create it. ”

“ The men give their shirts to the women to wash, and take their baskets or hoes and start for the field. They are generally paid for this extra work; if they do not work, they are set down as lazy persons, and are whipped because they will not work for themselves. Thus is the Sabbath passed. That day of rest and prayer is as other days to the poor slave. For six years whilst I was on this farm, there was never such a thing as a slave going to meeting, or hearing the word of God in any form. ”

“ The punishment of a slave for striking a white person, shall be for the first and second offences at the discretion of the court, but not extending to life or limb, and for the third offence, death; but for grievously wounding or mutilating a white person, death for the first offence; provided, if the blow or wound is given in defence of the person or property of his master, or the person having charge of him, he is entirely justified. ”

“ A slave for wilfully striking his master or mistress, or the child of either, or his white overseer, so as to cause a bruise or shedding of blood, shall be punished with death.
Any person cutting or breaking any iron chain or collar used to prevent the escape of slaves, shall be fined not less than two hundred dollars, nor more than one thousand dollars, and be imprisoned not more than two years, nor less than six months. ”

“ Every slave found on horseback, without a written permission from his master, shall receive twenty-five lashes.
Any freeholder may seize and correct any slave found absent from his usual place of work or residence, without some white person, and if the slave resist or try to escape, he may use arms, and if the slave assault and strike him, he may kill the slave.
It is lawful to fire upon runaway negroes who are armed, and upon those who, when pursued, refuse to surrender. ”

“ They are made to believe that God made them slaves, that they are always to remain slaves, and bear with patience and humility the unjust punishment they receive on earth, that it may be to their glory hereafter. Is it not an unpardonable sin for man thus to defile the holy sanctuary, and pollute the sacred word of God by using it for such base purposes? ”

“ He had a wife and children, whom, in case of their being slightly in fault, he would have to lash with an unflinching hand; there being no sympathy allowed to be shown, between even man and wife. I will relate a circumstance, which made a very great impression on my mind at that time. There was a slave on the farm by the name of Jo. The overseer had threatened to put him in the stocks, for some trivial offence. Jo, dreading the severity of the punishment, ran away, which fact was soon brought to my master's knowledge, who ordered the overseer to shoot him the first time he saw him. ”

“ No slave may buy, sell, or exchange any kind of goods, or hold any boat, or bring up for his own use, any horses or cattle, under a penalty of forfeiting the whole.
Slaves or free colored persons are punished with death for wilfully burning or destroying any stack of produce or any building. ”

“ Besides, candidates for popular favor, like the doctor who advertises for the fifty 'incurables,' take special care to conciliate, rather than outrage, 'public opinion.' Is the doctor so ignorant of 'public opinion' in his own city, that he has unwittingly committed violence upon it in his advertisement? ”

“ If any slave who shall be out of the house or plantation where such slave shall live, or shall be usually employed, or without some white person in company with such slave, shall refuse to submit to undergo the examination of any white person, it shall be lawful for such white person to pursue, apprehend, and moderately correct such slave ”

“ I told him, I thought he would. He placed him in charge of the stage-driver the next morning, for Mr. McNeill's farm. Thus ended my services with one of the worst masters on the Mississippi.
I entered the duties of my new situation with pleasure; not that I saw anything more pleasing in my new master than I did in Mr. McNeill, but the thought of having left the farm, as I hoped, forever, was a source of great consolation to me. I do not mention the name of this gentleman or of any of my subsequent masters, as I do not wish to afford them the means to trace me. ”

“ On the occasions of whipping by the stocks, it was my duty to be present; and at the end of each hundred, to apply salt to the bleeding back of the sufferer till the15 blood was stanched, when the whipping was renewed, until the delinquent had received four or five hundred lashes. These cruelties were principally inflicted by the overseer, who was a drunken, quarrelsome person, whom it was impossible to please; and when he was in liquor he took very great delight in inflicting punishment on the slaves. Beside the overseer there was a driver, one of the slaves, named Harry. ”

“ I have, since my settling in the North, heard many persons, in speaking of slavery as they have seen it in cities, towns, &c., where it exists in its mildest form, apologizing for it, holding it forth to the world as a great benefit to the black man. They say the slaves are nicely fed, clothed, and taken care of in a very comfortable manner. ”

“ All slaves sentenced to death or perpetual imprisonment, in virtue of existing laws, shall be paid for out of the public treasury, provided the sum paid shall not exceed three hundred dollars for each slave. ”

“ Slaves shall always be reputed and considered real estate; shall be as such subject to be mortgaged, according to the rules prescribed by law, and they shall be seized and sold as real estate.
No owner of slaves shall hire his slaves to themselves, under a penalty of twenty-five dollars for each offence. ”

“ The object of the slaveholders in having their slaves go to church can be clearly seen by the following sermon, which, or one very similar to it, I recollect hearing while worshipping at this church, which has been published and circulated quite extensively at the South:—"'All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so unto them:' That is, do by all mankind just as you would desire they should do by you if you were in their place, and they in yours. ”

“ I stood upon the deck looking at every person about me, thinking that the excuse I could give if interrogated there would be more plausible than if I were in the cabin or any other part of the ship. Finally, the steamboat which was to take us down the river came up alongside and was made fast. As this was going on I ventured to turn my head, and on the boat saw a man, whom I thought I had seen at the hotel. The thought came to me, should he see me, he might inform my master. ”

“ Much has been said about the marriage rites of slaves; but there exists no legal form,—every slaveholder having a form of his own. Permit me, then, to give to my readers the manner in which my master performed the ceremony. Whenever a vacancy occurred in any of the cabins of either sex, of marriageable age, it was immediately filled up by my master purchasing another slave, either man or woman, as the case might be, and presenting them to the remaining inmates of the cabin, with the following words: "Kitty, stand out in the floor ”

“ He said that I had better do some light work, and it would probably wear off. I then busied myself about the ship, endeavoring to make myself as useful as I could. We had a pleasant passage of twenty-nine days, and arrived in Boston without anything special happening. I have taken care to suppress the captain's name, and the name of his ship, knowing that should it be known it would cause him difficulty; and I never have given either since I have been a free man. The money which the steward paid for my passage I was able to refund to him in about a year afterwards. ”

“ Any person having sick negroes, considered incurable by their respective physicians, and wishing to dispose of them, Dr. S. will pay cash for negroes affected with scrofula or king's evil, confirmed hypocondriasm, apoplexy, diseases of the liver, kidneys, spleen, stomach and intestines, bladder and its appendages, diarrhœa, dysentery, &c. The highest cash price will be paid on application as above. ”