The planter's victim, or, Incidents of American slavery : with illustrations

Dedication

TO

Dear Sir:

You nrc widely known and esteemed throughout tho land, as being ono of tho ablest and boldest udvocatos of tho great principles of human freedom. Permit mo to inscribe tho following pages to you, as an humble indication of the very high regard entertained for your eminent talents, usefulness and virtues, by

Preface

TnK subject of slavery is one in which no American can take too great or too permanent an interest. "Vyhcther it is viewed as a single item in the great sum of human affairs; or as an important development in hu¬ man history; or as a prominent ingredient in American society and government; or as a fruitful source of strange forms and habitudes of human thought and action, nowhere else to be discovered on the globe; in any case American slavery is a theme of imperishable interest and concern. And it will remain such, not only while this remarkable institution continues to exist, but for ages after it shall have happily become a thing only of history and of retrospection.

What other subject addresses itself so powerfully to the attention of the statesman, the philanthropist, the man of letters, the student of political history and economy, the moralist, and the observer of human cha¬ racter and society ? None! It has no parallel in this

PREFACE.

vi

respect, in the whole range of human thought and in¬ quiry.

Hence it is that the literature of slavery has assumed, during its brief existence, various phases; but it has in these latter days, achieved a new development, which seems to possess greater power, and to gain a stronger hold on public interest, than any it had previously dis¬ played. Wo mean the department of slave-novels;— works of imagination, based upon facts, as they are con¬ stantly exhibited and developed by the operation of slavery. Several works of this class, possessing great power and merit, have already appeared; and it is to bo hoped that the supply is not yet exhausted.

We contend that every American citizen possesses an unquestionable right to speak boldly of slavery. If not residing in a slave State, he has no right directly to in¬ terfere, either in its suppression or in its preservation. But as a citizen of this confederacy; as one who, at home and abroad, must bear a part of the universal ob¬ loquy and disgrace which negro bondage brings upon the American name in every clime; as one who, if slavery should finally dissolve this Union, must endure a portion of the social and political calamities which that fearful catastrophe would inevitably inflict upon the nation; in view of all these reasons it is undoubtedly right, that every American should use moral suasion, if he will, and the force of argument and narrative, if he

PREPACK.

vii

can, to aid in the suppression of the most monstrous and gigantic evil of modern times.

In the exorcise of this privilege, the following pages have been written by an author, himself the nativo of a slavo State. The reader may rest assured that nothing is contained in them which has not had its counterpart in real fact. If there is any distinctive feature belong¬ ing to this work, which distinguishes it from the other publications of a similar character which have already appeared, it is this: that while they all have confessedly softened down some of the most offensive attributes of American slavory, and in mistaken charity, have thrown over them a borrowed and unnatural hue of benevolence and moderation, which did not really belong to the sub¬ ject, but are, in truth, actually incongruous and foreign to it; this book presents a picture of slavery, in which its worst features are as boldly and as unsparingly por¬ trayed, as its best. There is nothing in American slavery worse than some things to be found here; and there is nothing better. It is therefore hoped, that in this book will be found a true, because it is an unmiti¬ gated, portraiture of the subject.

Contents

CHAPTER L

two yoohg blavbb,

Pago

Chapter I. Two Young Slaves

“ Heaven from all creatures hides the book of fate.

All but the page proscribed, their present stato j The lamb, thy riot dooms to bleed to-day,

Had he thy r jason, would he skip and play ?

Pleased to the last, he crops the flowery food.

And licks the hand just raised to shed his blood.”— Pope.

It was the 5th of September, in the year 1840. Brightly gleamed the evening sun, when shedding its last golden radiance over the fertile plain, which formed the large and rich estate of Major Dudley, in Louisiana. At this moment two persons, seated alone on the turf, at some distance in the rear of his stately mansion, were gazing with silent rapture on the scene; for it was 2

THE PLAN THU'S VICTIM.

indeed a picturo adapted to excite the admiration of every beholder. The god of day was about to plunge behind the western steeps, and bid the world farewell; but ere ho left it to darkness and silence, he shed upon bill and dale, and cotton fiold, a parting lu Ire, a glowing beauty, which no pencil could reproduce.

It was Sunday evening. During the day, the busy work of the plantation had been suspended. The slaves were for the most port unoccupied. Among the one hundred of these, who were owned by old Major Dud¬ ley, two were preeminent for intelligence, personal beauty and amiability.

These two were the persons already alluded to— George Sanford, and his betrothed and beloved Caro¬ line. Wo will endeavor to describe both of them.

Sanford was a bright mulatto youth, of tall and mus¬ cular proportions, about twenty-four years of age. His complexion was scarcely a shade darker than that of his aristocratic owner. So faultless and perfect njere the proportions of his figure, that he might well have served as a model for a sculptor, from which to mould some youthful and majestic Apollo, in the v full glow of masculine beauty and splendor.

His countenance, too, was as remarkable as his figure. His features exhibited nothing of the distinctive charac¬ teristics of the negro; his eye was large, dark and expressive; his forehead was high, prominent and

TWO YOUNG SLAVES.

expanBivo; displaying a dome of thought, indicative of mental superiority. He had pearly teeth, and the long silken hair of an Italian.

As they quietly gazed on the scene, he placed his arm around the slender -waist of his companion, who seemed in truth to he the counterpart of himself. Caroline was the illegitimate daughter of her master, old Major Dud¬ ley; the fruit of an illicit passion for one of his female slaves; who, some years beforo had died, and left her hapless child behind her in the world, an crphan and a slave.

Caroline had inherited all her father’s intelligence and native dignity of deportment. She was a beautiful girl, possessing the same fair complexion as her lover. She exhibited the characteristic traits of all the beau¬ ties of the sunny South, whether bond or free; dark eyes and hair, a soul full of burning passion, and great ardor of temperament. Her features were classical in their outline; and her head was gracefully poised on a magnificent bust, of full and swelling proportions. Her slender waist and delicate foot might have emulated those of a countess; while all her movements possessed a native charm and grace, which were very captivating to the observer.

She and Sandford, living on the same estate, had early learned to love; and they loved, as only the chil¬ dren of a common misfortune can love, when a southern

TI1K PLANTERS VICTIM.

clime adds intensity to emotions created by mutual boauty and attachment.

“IIow happy this glorious sunset makes me,” said George, “ I feel that I can almost forget our toils, and imagine myself, for a moment, what I ought to be, a freeman”

“As long as we are happy together, wo must forget that wo are slaveB,” Carolino responded, “ Our lot is not, indeed, worse than that of thousands of others, and in some respects it is better.”

“Yes, but while I am grateful for what we do enjoy, I feel an unquenchable desire for that which I know tho great Creator intended that we should possess, that is— ourselves, our freedom.”

“Yet, George, I hope you would not try to run away; the attempt would be full of peril to you; and beside, you would leave me behind you, and that would make me perfectly wretched.”

“ Oh no,” replied George, “ I never would think of running away; my plan is a very different one.”

“What is it?” eagerly inquired Caroline.

“ It is not to run away, nor to defraud my master of what he supposes to be his lawful property. I have been dreaming and hoping to secure this great blessing of freedom, by earning it myself; I intend to make a proposition to master.”

“What is it?”

TWO YOllNO SLAVES.

“ I intend to ask him to hire my time out to Borne of the planters in our neighborhood; and then, without his knowing it, I will work extra, and save up my earnings, till they amount to something handsome; and then I will ask master what ho will sell mo for, and if I hav’nt enough I will work on, and save up more, till I get enough, and then I will buy myself. Oh, I will then be free! Carry, it must be a glorious thing to be free; to feel that no living being is your master, your tyrant, or your superior!”

Caroline did not receive this announcement with the approving ardor which George had anticipated. She seemed lost in pensive thought, and appeared to be sad.

The silence of a few moments ensued.

“ Why are you so gloomy, my love ?” asked George. Caroline raised her large dark eyes to Goorge's, and said sadly, “Why should I feel happy at this declara¬ tion of yours ? When you are free, the day that pro¬ claims your liberty, will be the hour of my desertion and loneliness. You will not stay long after that in this land of slaves, and stripes, and tears. I know you won’t. You will go to Canada, or to some other free and happy land, and I must remain here in solitude, in servitude, and in despair.” And she began to weep.

“ No, never, never, Carry!” said he, enthusiastically., “ Wait till you have heard all my plans. When I attain my freedom, then every day and night, and every hour, 2 *

TUB PLANTER’S VICTIM.

Trill I toil, until I buy your freedom too. I can earn eight or nine hundred dollars in sovcral years, at most, and I will not spend an idle moment till I buy your freedom.”

“ Ah! that would be a happiness almost too great to be imagined,” replied Caroline, smiling.

“ Yet we will some day enjoy it, I hope. That part of our happiness will all depend on master; but ho is so stern and resolute, that I sometimes fear ho will never listen to my request, and may refuse to hire me out.”

“Let us hope that he will rot refuse,” rejoined Caro¬ line.

“ If he does refuse me, I know not what I will do. I will give up in despair. I know, Carry, that you and I were never intended for slaves. We were born to be free. I feel a mighty impulse in my soul, whenever I tnink of the galling chains I wear, which seems to givo me strength to tear those chains in a thousand pieces, and step forth upon thic beautiful, bounteous, and fra¬ grant earth, a freeman ! one whom God has made in his own image; capable of enjoying and of appreciating his freedom, and his powers and faculties, which are human and noble; and for using them for great and noble pur¬ poses.”

Caroline listened to her lover in silence. He con¬ tinued, reflectively, “I am a slave, owned by another human being, no wiser, no better, no nobler than myself.

TWO YOUN'J SLAVES.

ID

I hr.ve as much right, by the laws of Goil and reason, to command his fate and actions, and destiny, as ho has to command mine. An unholy law, made by the b^so and grasping passions of the strongest, has sanctioned his authority over mo; but no other law, and no other law¬ giver has sanctioned it.

“ Nor is our present misery the sum of all that wo must Buffer. Our existence now is crushed. But look at the darkness and uncertainty of the future. We may at any moment be sold to another and more cruel mas¬ ter. We may be separated from each other for ever. You, especially, would then bo unprotected in the world. I may be compelled by some other master to endure still worse stripes and chains, and toil and buffetings, than I now suffer. The present with us is wretched; but the unknown future hangs over us like a dark cloud. Yet far beyond the confines of this gloomy land of chains,” said he, smiling, “ I know and have heard that there is a brighter land of hope and freedom, under other laws; where slaves become men, and where despairing beings, such as we are, become the possessors of, to us, an unknown happiness.”

During the delivery of this burst of feeling, the ex¬ pressive and intellectual features of Sanford became wrought up with intense excitement, and his eyes glared around him in calm and self-possessed defiance.

He proceeded after a pause, “ Oh, it must be glorious to be free ! as glorious as it is ignominious to be a slave, a serf! I will bo free, Carry, and so shall you! But I will not rob my master. I will not cheat him of what is not his own. I will buy myself, and I will buy you, too, if I die in tho attempt. That would be a much more noble, ay, glorious triumph, than to run away! Don’t you think so, love ?”

During this speech, Caroline had gazed with silent rapture and admiration on her lover. The shades of evening had gradually settled, unperccived by them, over the wide and tranquil face of the landscape; and the sleepy sounds which are usually heard on a largo plantation, when the lowing herds and the once clamor¬ ous servants are gradually sinking into rest, and are dispersing to their several quarters, reminded them that it was time for them to separate for the night.

“I will hope for the best,” said Caroline. “ I know you are capable of making noble exertions, George.”

“ How long will it be before you can obtain Misses’s consent to our marriage?” said he

“ I know not, love, but ver^ soon, I hope.” With this remark, George impressed a fervent kiss upon the li A i of his betrothed, which was returned with equal ardor. The poor girl felt happy in her love, and in the hope of a better future.

At this moment the shrill voice of Mrs. Dudley, her mistress, was heard resounding from the back door of

TWO YOUNU SLAVES.

tho mansion, calling for Caroline, whose duty it was to preparo Ada, her youngest daughter, a child of five years of age, for bed. Hearing tho summons, Bho hastily rose, and wont toward tho house, bidding her lover good night.

George, silently and thoughtfully wended his way to his own rude quarters; where, on his humble wooden couch, he revolved in his mind, until a late hour, the restless thoughts and aspirations which had already taken possession of his soul.

The reader may imagine, that the description we have here given of these two quadroon slaves, is exaggerated and unnatural; that the language and ideas ascribed to them, indicate a degree of intelligence which is never found among the slaves of the South.

This is a very great error. We draw the picture of the thoughts and feelings of these two unfortunate beings from actual life. There is a class of Degroes in the South, generally the children of white men and mu¬ latto women, who possess and display a degree of natu¬ ral intelligence, refinement and delicacy of feeling, fully equal to any thing exhibited by the white race. They, of course, want the finishing touch, which education alone can give, to natural qualities of that kind. Their minds, naturally gifted, and apt to receive impressions and accessions of knowledge from without, are not po¬ lished and adorned with the various graces and beauties

TIIE PLANTER’S VICTIM.

which learning bestows; which a knowledge of history and science,^ind antiquity, and poetry imparts. But so far as their own inherent and natural impulses and con¬ ception of things uro concerned, they are as gifted and as elevated as the whites; and often, indeed, far supe¬ rior to those rude and savage wretches, in whose hands their own fate sometimes happens to be unfortunately placed.

It is two persons of this class,—their history, their struggles, and their fate, which wo propose to portray in this work. Of course, the reader should bear in mind, that while this class of slaves exists, and toils, and suffers, it is a comparatively small class; yet their career is often one of melancholy interest, surpassing even the greatest marvels of fiction.

A FAMILY GROUP.

Chapter II. A Family Group

Tiie family of old Major Dudley, the owner of George Sanford and Cnroline, were representatives of a very large and distinguished class of Southern planters.

Major Dudley himself, was a bald headed, dignified, portly old gentleman, of very florid complexion and robust health. Ho was a descendant of an ancient and aristocratic Virginia family, of English origin, who, two or three generations since, had emigrated from the Old Dominion to the cotton fields of Louisiana, and there purchased a large estate, of which the Major was now the sole inheritor.

He had spent his whole life on his estate; and the long familiarity with wealth and local consequence, which he had enjoyed, bad given him a proud air and manner of command, which, to a stranger was some¬ what marked and offensive. He never travelled, except once in several years to New Orleans, to make pur¬ chases for the ladies of his family; and occasionally he would ride about to neighboring plantations, to spend a

T1IK PLANTER’S VICTIM.

day with their owners, with whom ho was on terms of friendship and intimacy.

The Major’s ideas respecting his slaves, were those of the wealthy planters of the South generally. Ho re¬ garded them as little better than his cattle; ho had no particular pleasure in punishing them, or in making them miserable; he did not, in fact, punish them unne¬ cessarily. But if they were ever so unfortunate as to excite his wrath, he inflicted upon them terrible evi¬ dences of his vindictiveness. Then they were punished with great severity. Then he knew neither pity nor humanity. The slaves on the Major’s plantation were generally well provided for; they had sufficient to eat and drink; good, though coarse clothing; and were not, in general, overworked. Their master acted on the saga¬ cious principle, that it was much the best policy for slaveholders not to overwork their slaves; they made more out of their property, if they took good care of it; their slaves then brought better prices, and lived much longer.

Then, too, the Major and his family took great pride in the thrifty and sleek appearance of their slaves. They loved to make a show of all their fine cattle to their opulent visitors, of whom there was generally some one or other lodging in the house. They took pride in their large oxen; in the superior appearance of their horses; in the excellent breed of their sheep and

A FAMILY GROUP.

hogs. They took equal pride in the excellence of their crops of sugar, rice and cotton; and even the thrifty state of their farming utensils was not a matter to bo overlooked by them; the condition of their barns, corncribs, stables, wagons, carriages, and slave-huts,—all served to heighten their family pride, and feed the senso of their opulence and prosperity.

While these things were so, of course the condition and appearance A his hundred slaves were a matter of vast importance to the Major, and a source of great pride to his family. These slaves generally worked well; all things went forward quietly and harmoniously on the plantation. Sometimes a slave was very severely whipped.; sometimes another was handcuffed;"sometimes a third was confined for a day in the rude stocks, which their master had provided for the purpose. But for the most part, the overseer’s task on Major Dudley’s plan¬ tation was an easy one. It was, kTfact, a model plan¬ tation in every respect.

Mrs. Dudley, the Major’s wife, was a person of great dignity of deportment, and managed quietly to divide with her husband the sceptre and the dominion which he held over this little empire.

She was descended from an ancient, though somewhat reduced family of Tennessee, and had been in her youth a celebrated beauty; now, advancing age had consider¬ ably diminished her charms, though not her pretensions.

THE PLANTER'S VICTIM.

Sho was a good housekeeper, so far as housekeeping is requisite in the wife of a Southern planter, and kept every department of the establishment which came under her observation, in excellent, order. She, too, was not unnecessarily strict or severe with her servants ; though when they were guilty of disobedience or ne¬ glect, she could punish with great severity.

Mrs. Dudley was a professing Christian; she attended a church some five miles distant from the plantation, as often as the weather permitted. What her ideas of slavery were, it would indeed, he difficult to tell. Her intellect was one of narrow compass and feeble power; hence she did not, in any of her meditations, probe very profoundly into the absolute and fundamental nature of things, or of moral relations.

It is probable that Mrs. Dudley had no very distinct ideas respecting the nature of slavery, or of slaves. As a Christian, she could not deny that her slaves were human beings, and consequently had immortal souls. But as a slaveholder, she could not admit that they were her brothers and sisters, possessed of the same rights, hopes, fears, duties and destinies as herself. As a Christian, she must have admitted that Christ had died to redeem them; yet, as a slaveholder, it must have puzzled her to conceive why the Son of God should die to redeem such cattle, anymore than he would have died

A FAMILY iJKOIP.

to redeem the fat horses, or sheep, or oxen, -with which the estate was stocked.

Mrs. Dudley had several favorites among her slaves, who had won her regard by their ready obedience to her whims, and by their general intelligence and amia¬ bility. One of these was Caroline. To her she entrusted the care of her wardrobe; and the neatness, taste, and aptitude displayed by the poor girl in the performance of her duties, had secured her mistress’s good-will and kindness toward her.

The otllfc’ members of Major Dudley’s family, whom it may be proper here to mention, were his son Richard, his pride and heir; Julia, his eldest daughter, and Ada, an interesting child of five years.

Richard Dudley was a fine-looking, handsome young man, twenty-five years of age, who had been reared almost entirely upon his father’s plantation. He had occasionally been absent from home, at New Orleans and other Southern cities, where he had spent a few weeks at a time, in those pursuits and pleasures con¬ genial to youth and an ardent temperament.

Ho possessed rather more than an average amount of talent. Ilis education had not been neglected, and he had gone through the course of elementary and polite learning, usual with young gentlemen of the South. He had also learned all their fashionable vices, and ardently indulged in them, without restraint.

THE PLANTER'S VICTIM.

Ilia disposition was by no means as attractive as bis person. In truth, his nature was ono of unusual and extraordinary fierceness, bitterness, and resolution. IIo had over been a spoiled and petted child, and when he grew up to man’s estate, his passions had also grown with great power and intensity; and in the gratification of those passions, ho knew neither restraint, nor law, nor reason.

The largo amount of money which he could always command, had generally enabled him to attain the end of all his wishes. When not irritated iqp any way, Richard could bo gentle, manly, and courteous enough. At times, even, whin in a good humor, his great personal beauty would render him often attentive and fascinating. Rut when crossed or disturbed, ho became fierce, vindic¬ tive, and implacable.

His sister Julia, had inherited her mother’s beauty, and more than her father’s intelligence. Accustomed from infancy’to bo constantly waited upon, she could do little or nothing for herself, without the aid of her ser¬ vants ; yet she treated them with great kindnoss.

This young lady was a type of the highest and best class of Southern heiresses. The charms of her person were very great. Her education had been carefully attended to. There was no accomplishment which adds a higher charm to beauty, nor grace which increases the

A FAMILY OROIJP.

attractiveness of wealth and station, which she did not possess in fin unusual degree.

Julia was honored annoyed, by a large number of suitors. Of one of these, her favorite, and finally her husband, we will speak hereafter. She made no profes¬ sion of anything like religion. It is not customary or fashionable for the unmarried daughters of southern planters to do so. The usual routine of her lifo was alternated between her music, her books, her em¬ broidery, and her visitors. Yet many of the impulses of her soul w T er<r .benevolent, humane, and generous. Ilcr passions were strong and impetuous; but as is generally the case with women, they were mixed with more than the usual gentleness and amiability of the sex; and she had sometimes a heart open as day to emotions of generosity and pity, when objects calculated to excite them were presented to her attention.

\Ye have said enough about the Dudley family to convey to the reader an idea of the principal personages of whom we shall hereafter speak. Shortly succeeding the conversation described in the preceding chapter, events began to develop themselves which clearly illus¬ trated the attributes which we have ascribed to the sev¬ eral members of this family ; and constituted the moving spring of the misfortunes and destinies of those under their power—their slaves, and eventually their victims. 3 *

THE PLASTER'S VICTIM

Chapter III. The Attempt And First Failure

“I'll havo her—but I will not keep her long.”—R icuard III.

The quiet and uniform routine of life on a Southern plantation, is well calculated to engender habits of luxury and dissipation in the young inheritors of largo estates.

Richard Dudley, the heir of this immense property, had a short time since returned from a visit to New Orleans, and had brought with him a beautiful mulatto girl, whom he had there purchased at a very high price.

During some weeks after nis return, he seemed to be quite enamoured of her charms. The connection between them was, of course, known to everybody on the planta¬ tion ; but neither in the house of the master, nor among the slaves, was any allusion made to it. These liaisons, if they may be dignified by such a term, where brutelust, without any affection or esteem between the parties, is the only attraction, were matters of such repeated occurrence among persons of the class to which Richard

THE ATTEMPT AND FIRST FAILURE.

Dudley belonged, that they excited no surprise and oc¬ casioned no remark.

Soon, however, Richard began to weary of her attrac¬ tions, and especially did he grow more indifferent to her, as the ripening beauty and graceful manners of Caroline came more closely under his observation and scrutiny. A keen, vulture-like passion began to grow within him. His eye, from time to time, gloated upon her matchless figure and her attractive proportions.

It was not long indeed, before he had come to the de¬ liberate determination to ravish the charms of the girl, and subject her to the indignities of a permanent or transient concubinage, as it might Buit his fancy. One day, with this end in view, and watching his opportunity, when ho observed her alone, at a short distance from the house, he approached and addressed her. Caroline was in a remote corner of the garden, weeding her patch of flowers. The situation was favorable to a retired con¬ versation; the heavy foliage screened them from imme¬ diate observation.

“What pretty flowers you have here,” said Dudley, to her, as he approached.

Caroline rose from her knees, and gazed with surprise at the person who addressed her. She immediately curtsied gracefully to Richard, and replied: “Yes, mas¬ ter Richard, mistress gave me the seeds. I planted them here, add they have grown up into beautiful flowers.”

THE PLANTER’S VICTIM.

“ You love flowers, I suppose,” said lie.

“ Very much, master. Whenever mistress lets me have a little time to myself, I come here, to weed and trim my flower-bed, and I enjoy it very much. I do love flowers.”

“ But these do not occupy all your thoughts, do they?” inquired Richard, as ho ran his eye over her full and graceful figure, and took a fresh impression, as it were, of her attractions.

“J do not understand you, Master Richard,” said she, inquiringly.