An inside view of slavery : or, A tour among the planters

Front matter

The Property Of CHARLES A B, BEY AM

SLAVERY;

OR A

Contents

CHAPTER. PAGE

'hiTEODJJGTioi^ —By Mrs. H. B. tStowe, - 11

I. — Preliminary EemarkS; 13

Introduction

We have in this book the simple, straightforward narrative of an impartial witness, whose relationships and business brought him into intimate connections with all the phases of Southern society.

It is truly, as its title indicates, an inside view of slavery, — a view which could only be taken by one brought into intimate association with the society described.

It appears to be candid and fair in its spirit — to extenuate nothing, nor set down ought in malice, — and the facts carry their own authentication with them.

We recommend to all unprejudiced, or even prejudiced persons, to read it. If they once begin, they will not be likely to leave before the book is fin-

XU.

INTRODUCTION.

ished. And having read it; we hope they will ask themselves the question — are these things so ? — and if they are, — have / any duties to perform respecting them ? Every man, woman, and child in America has a personal interest in the question — what is slavery?— and every person is morally bound to form a correct opinion with regard to it.

This book is earnestly commended, therefore, to the attention of all who wish an intelligent answer to that question. H. B. Stowe.

INSIDE VIEW OF SLAVERY.

I. A Tour Among The Planters

Oh ! come to the South, where my servants shall all Depart at thy bidding, and come at thy caU, —

Where the shade of the palm tree is over my home,

And the lemon and orange are white in then* bloom ! ^

One of tLe most interesting features of tLe age in ■whicli we live, is the spirit of reform that everywhere pervades it. It is confined to no nation or country. The whole civilized world is alive with it. Before its searching scrutiny, no abuse is allowed to pass unnoticed. It finds its way into the prisons and cloisters of Europe, to deliver their inmates, or ameliorate their condition. It attacks despotism, alike in church and state. It strikes at systems hoary with age and crime, and exposes their enormities; — while it brings the habits and practices of men, — though sanctioned by fashion and custom, — to the test of its searching scrutiny. Like Ithuriel’s spear, it touches everything, however disguised, that tends to 2 degrade, or injure, or debase mankind, and reveals it to the world, in all its native ugliness and deformity.

This spirit, as now developed with special prominence in this country, relates to the two great evils of the land, — slavery, and intemperance. I do not mean to say that it is limited to these. It has no limit, within the range of human welfare. But as these evils are now engrossing a large share of public attention, so the voice of reform is calling loudly for some way of deliverance. The question of remedy is more properly within the sphere of political discussion ; — but the evils themselves, as they deeply affect moral, social, and physical life, enter into almost every field of literary effort.

The observations which have resulted in the preparation of this volume were made more minutely, as well as more extensively, in Georgia than in any other State. The early settlement of that State was begun under more favorable auspices than attended the birth of any other, — not excepting even Massachusetts. The founders of the colony of Georgia seem to have had some premonitions of the evils that were afterwards to afflict our country, — and they sought to avert them. Under their first charter, therefore, the intr'oduction of slavery j and the importation of spii'ituous liquors were both expressly prohibited. How different would have been the condition of that State, and, perhaps, of the whole nation, if those provisions had been maintained to this day !

But the adjacent colony of South Carolina was thickly populated with slaves, and the evil example was contagious. Like the ancient Hebrews when they desired a

A TOUR AMONG THE PLANTERS.

king, — wishing to be like their neighbors, they at length became so. As the population increased, and the inhabitants became closely connected in business, the anti-slavery clause in their code began to be violated with impunity, and in 1749 it was abrogated.

The same struggle and defeat on the temperance question had already been seen. As early as 1736 a cargo of liquors, brought into Savannah by the Carolina traders, was seized by the civil authorities, and publicly destroyed, — and the traders were imprisoned. Perhaps nothing in the early colonial histories approaches nearer to the Maine Law” than this. But it was too far in advance of the age, to stand. Adverse influences from the neighboring colonies, — especially from South Carolina,— ^ together with the power of appetite and interest at home, finally gained the victory, — and the prohibition was removed.

There are few Northern men who have not relatives, or intimate friends, in the South. State sovereignty and citizenship, local attachments, the sacred associations of home, all yield to the centrifugal forces of active life, and families are scattered until, perhaps, each member resides in a different State. But the strong ties of early affection, though lacerated, are t destroyed. The companions of childhood are remembered, and if we are not able to revisit them among

“ The smiling hills, the spacious, fertile vales.

And reveled in the odor-breathing gales,

we long for them to visit us where another home has

INSIDE VIEW OP SLAVERY.

been hallowed by new associations. And hence, though there are repulsions in religion and politics, and sectional controversies have arisen, the warm greeting and kind invitation are still sent and returned. And, thanks to a good Providence, whatever have been the recriminations of politicians, and whatever blemishes there ‘ftiay be upon the character of our people, either North or South, this spirit of generous hospitality and warmhearted social intercourse is not yet dead !

From the commencement of the anti-slavery movement in this country, I have been deeply interested in its progress ; and though I have never believed it necessary, in order to understand this subject, that one should visit the slave States, still I had long wished to do so. I felt certain that there must be, among the effects of the slave system, facts that would arrest the attention and awaken the sympathy of Northeim men more than could be done by discussing its abstract principles. I therefore determined to kno'C from actual observation, the workings and results of this system.

In the autumn of 1852, I made my arrangements for a tour in the Southern States. I had a number of relatives in Georgia whom I desired to visit ; and as some of them were slaveholders, and all of them so situated that a more intimate acquaintance with their southern homes would bring me into close contact with slavery, I designed to avail myself of every opportunity which the occasion might afford for a thorough investigation. The fact that I had influential friends connected with the system, gave me, probably, a nearer access to its s<5cret operations than had ever been enjoyed by any one not supposed to be in favor of it. The time of my visit was also opportune, being after the compromise measures had been adopted in Congress. The pulpit and the press had proclaimed that all agitation had ceased,” and that the anti-slavery cause was dead.” In the South this was, to some extent, believed to be true ; and the espionage of slaveholders over the movements of Northern men was less than had been known before for many years.

During my sojourn in the South, I traveled through Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Yirginia, and the Carolinas. Thus I learned that the agricultural system of all the slave States is generally the same. But my inquiries into the condition and the business habits of the people, the institutions of learning and religion, and the whole modus operandi of the slave system, in its effects upon masters, non- slaveholders, and slaves, were made more particularly in the State of Georgia. And, pe"*- haps, no single State exhibits a fairer view of the whole system. Thougli not in so mild a form as in Yirginia and Maryland, still darker and more cruel aspects of it may be seen in the Carolinas, and the South Western States,

In order to obtain a correct knowledge of the man- ^ ners and customs of the people, and their modes of doing business, I engaged, at different times, in various occupations. In no other way can a stranger become acquainted with men and things. For some time I traveled in the interior, as agent for a commission house in

INSIDE VIEW OF SLAVERY.

the city of Savannah, purchasing cotton, corn, hides, &c» At another time I was employed by a lumber company that was building mills in the country, to superintend the operation, and take charge of the manufacturing business. Here were slaveholders and slaves laboring together, living in log cabins, eating from the same dish, and sleeping on the same floor, or on the ground, at night. One of the owners was a Presbyterian clergyman, and a slaveholder, but the smartest man to work we had in the crowd.” The master builder” was also a minister, of the Baptist denomination. He was a native Georgian, but a thorough going abolitionist. The subject of slavery was frequently and fully discussed among us, and its injurious effects on industrial pursuits were admitted by all.

No one can understand much of slavery by looking at the features which it presents in the northern slave States. The influence of free labor, and Northern institutions, here modifies the system, and either banishes or conceals many barbarous practices which are common farther south. The master, even if unconscious of it, feels the influence of public sentiment, and often seeks to palliate the great wrong by kind treatment.

Neither can amy one see and know what slavery is hy visiting only the cities and large villages in the southern slave States. Here, as in the States farther north, the slaveholder is surrounded by influences that change the external features of the system, and tend to check its excesses. Those men who are prominent in the learned professions, and most successful in business, are many,

A TOUR AMONG THE PLANTERS.

if not most of them, from the North. If we inquire of the most enterprising, wealthy merchants in the cities, not only on the coast, but in the interior of the slave States, where they originated, they will point us to their remote country homes in New England, where they first saw the light, where their early years of life were employed in vigorous exercise on the rough farm in summer, and in the common school in winter. These men learned the value of schools and churches before they left their good old puritan homes, and they have struggled manfully to maintain these institutions, in spite of the downward tendencies, and the untoward influences of the slave system. And they have also felt that lahoring men need wholesome, nutritious food to stimulate the muscle, and quiet rest at night, on a comfortable bed, to restore tone to the nerves. Such men care for the condition of their servants. The legitimate effects of slavery are not fully developed in their families, though the slaves probably experience great sufferings in the best condition, which the stranger cannot perceive, nor even the master know.

But to understand what sla,very is, we must go into the planting districts, and see the live Crackers f as the inhabitants of those districts are familiarly called. Here we behold the native slaveholder alone with his slaves, having no Northern men about him to influence his conduct, to check the full indulgence of his appetites, or restrain his passions. Here, and here only, can we see slavery as it is. No where else are its legitimate results and real influences so fully disclosed.

II A Tour Among The Planters

By storied hill and hallowed grot,

By mossy wood and marshy glen,

Whence rang of old the rifle shot,

And hurrying shout of Marion’s men.

The groan of brealung hearts is there— ^

The falling lash, the fetters’ clank !

Slaves — slaves are breathing in that air.

Which old DeKalb and Sumpter drank !

Whittiek.

The Southern Colonies did not distinguish themselves in the Revolutionary War. Savannah and Charleston successively surrendered to the British arms, and at last, Georgia and both the Carolinas were abandoned to the British power. The Southern army was nearly destroyed, and the remnant withdrawn from the field. And yet, these colonies were the scenes of some of the most brilliant exploits and heroic adventures that are recorded in the history of that memorable struggle. The death of Pulaski, and DeKalb, the daring bravery of Gen. Sumpter as he contested the ground, inch by inch, with a superior force, before which he was compelled at last to retire, the struggles and triumphs of Marion, Wayne,

A TOUR AMONG THE PLANTERS.

and Morgan, after Gen. Greene had taken the command of the Southern division of the army, form a chapter of events not inferior in interest to any other. It was from this field that Kennedy gathered the materials for his fine historical romance Horse-shoe Robinson.” And whatever may be said of the devotion which the South exhibited to the American cause during the Revolutionary War, it must be admitted that since that time she has held the names of the heroes who fought and bled upon her soil in grateful remembrance. Her counties, cities, and towns are named in honor of them, and the places consecrated by their struggles are pointed out to strangers as shrines of patriotic devotion. In a public square in the city of Savannah, a monument has been erected to the memory of Gen. Greene, — and another to commemorate the fame of Count Pulaski, who fell during the gallant but unsuccessful attempt to retake the city, by Gen. Lincoln, in 1779.

I arrived in Savannah on the 22d of November, 1852. This city is located upon the river of the same name, 18 miles from its mouth. The site is an elevated sandy plain, about forty feet above the level of the river, the bank of which was originally called Yamacraw Bluff j ” a name, like that of the river itself, of Indian origin. The earliest settlement in the State was at this place. The city was laid out by Gen. Oglethorpe, in 1733, and has always been the largest commercial depot on the Atlantic coast, south of Charleston. The British took possession of it in 1778, and held it until 1783. A large portion of it was destroyed by fire in 1820, but so far

INSIDE VIEW OF SLAVERY.

from checking its prosperity, this disaster resulted in its permanent improvement. It was unhealthy in summer, until the rice growers were induced, by a contribution of $70,000 from the citizens, to abandon the practice of flowing the rice fields in the vicinity. The dry cultivation of rice is substituted, but to less profit. The river is navigable as far as Augusta, 230 miles from its mouth. This, with several railroads by which Savannah is connected with the interior, makes it the center of a large amount of inland trade. About 350,000 bales of cotton are annually received and shipped here, and in 1852, there were exported from this city 40,000 casks of rice, and 25,000,000 feet of lumber. In 1853 the population was 23,000, of whom about 10,000 were slaves.

The city stands upon a sandy plain, or table land. It is regularly laid out with wide, unpaved streets. At every alternate corner, there is reserved a public square, planted with ornamental trees. The most of these are the Pride of India tree, which are very far from being beautiful in foliage, or fragrant in blossom. Since my return to the North, I have learned that a large part of them have been destroyed by a violent wind, — and if some other kind of tree shall be substituted for this, in a few years no one will regret the loss.

In the rear of the city is a public park, containing forty acres, mostly covered with the original pine trees, standing so far apart as not to prevent the growth of grass, and enclosed by a high, costly, iron fence.

The monument to Count Pulaski, before mentioned, though wanting in proportion and symmetry, is an honor

A TOUR AMONG THE PLANTERS.

to the city, and an ornament to the beautiful square in front of the large hotel by the same name.

No one of the fourteen churches would be called elegant, except the Independent Presbyterian, which is truly magnificent. It cost $120,000. It is built of light marble, and has wide aisles with marble floors. Eetreating sky-blue niches between the windows, for monuments, add beauty to the interior ; and the whole edifice, both within and without, for symmetry and beauty is probably not surpassed in the country.

Savannah exhibits unmistakable signs of enterprise, refinement, and wealth. Many of the dwelling houses are spacious and elegant, the stores are large and well filled. In the heart of the city every thing imparts to the view of the stranger an idea of comfort ; but in the suburbs, the low, dingy, dirty, squalid, cheerless negro huts, remind the Northern visitor of the fearful price paid by one class to support another.

The principal business is based on the great staple, cotton. During my first visit to the place, nine trains came down the Central Eailro ad daily, with from twenty to thirty cars in each train, loaded mountain high with this article. The depots and plank yards, covering several acres, were groaning constantly under the immense burden, while long trains of horse teams were laboring for their relief, by drawing it over a plank road a mile or more in length, to the commission houses. Samples of the various descriptions of cotton are displayed in the ante-rooms of the stores, into which purchasers are introduced; and contracts are made so privately and

INSIDE VIEW OF SLAVERY.

quickly that it is difficult for a Yankee to find out whether any business is done at all. But the clerks are standing, silent, at their desks, dashing their pens for their lives. Bills, orders, checks, drafts, are exchanged, bales of cotton are passing into vessels from the wharves as fast and still as ripe blossoms from the trees in the spring-time, when shaken with a strong east wind.

1 spent more time in Savannah than in any other Southern city. From this place I made my excursions for business, or observation, or pleasure, and having accomplished the object in view, returned here again, to form new plans, or complete my notes of slavery in city life. In short, I made this a sort of point d'appui, if I may use a military phrase, around which the operations of my Southern tour were carried on. And it was fortunate for my purpose that I took this course. For though the true features of slavery may generally be seen in the country without much trouble, it is not so in the city, as has abeady been noticed. It is only by a protracted residence, and a careful examination, that the real condition of the slaves can here be understood. And even then, there are many who have had no special reasons for investigating this subject, who know but little about it. I have known Northern men who have lived in Southern cities many years, without ascertaining whether slaves, belonging to families in which they reside, have wholesome food, or comfortable beds.

A few weeks before I left Savannah for the interior, I boarded at the Marshall House. A friend of mine who had boarded at the same house for several years,

A TOUR AMONG THE PLANTERS.

and wlio had become an advocate of slavery^ not having witnessed much of the privations and sufferings of slaves, frequently inquired of me if the slaves in that city did not appear to be in a better condition than the colored population of the North. And I was constrained to admit that, so far as I had been able to judge from what I had seen, the slaves were very well cared for. But before I left that house, some facts came to my knowledge, in relation to the treatment of slaves at the public boarding houses, which astonished some of the Yankees who had been there for years. And the disclosures show that business relations afford the best opportunities for obtaining facts.

Mr. L., of Maine, contracted with the proprietor of the Marshall House for a lease of those premises for several years. The keys were put into his hands on the third morning of January, 1853. When Mr. L. opened the bar-room door, he found three of the male servants sleeping on narrow boards placed on chairs, the floor being sanded, without a pillow or a blanket. He opened the boot room, and there found two of the bootblacks,” in a room too short for them to lie down at full length, with nothing but boots for pillows. In the kitchen, there were five female cooks sleeping on the solid brick hearth. This fact was not disclosed to the Northern boarders until this gentleman had taken charge of the house. My friend, though he had boarded there two years, had not known until that morning, that Mr. Johnson’s slaves had no beds. Mr. L. inquired of Mr. J., if there were no 3

INSIDE VIEW OF SLAVERY.

beds furnished; and sleeping apartments appropriated to the slaves ?

No,” replied Mr. J. ; niggers never sleep on beds in the public houses in this State.”

I mentioned to a gentleman of my acquaintance who was boarding at the Pulaski House, that we had made the discovery at the Marshall House, that the slaves had no beds to rest upon ; to which he replied,

Mr. Johnson is a brute, not to furnish his negroes with beds, for they have to work very hard here in winter.”

they have beds at your house ? ” I asked.

Of course they do,” was the reply.

^^Are you sure? Because Mr. Johnson says they never have beds at the taverns.”

The next day, my friend told me that he had asked the proprietor at the Pulaski House what kind of beds were furnished for his servants.

Beds 1 ” exclaimed Capt. W., don’t you know that niggers never sleep on beds ? Put any one of my niggers on the best bed there is in my house, and he wont lie there half an hour. Niggers prefer sleeping on the floor.”

This was the largest hotel in the State, and its patrons were among the wealthiest and most refined. There were some fifty slaves, or more, owned or employed about the establishment, as it is necessary to have many more servants in a first class hotel in the South than in the North. And yet, this gentleman had boarded there

A TOUR AMONG THE PLANTERS.

some years, and having no special interest in making the inquiry, he had not learned that the slaves who waited upon him by day and by night, were never provided with even such beds as Northern farmers furnish their horses.

One of the first strange sights to a Northern man on visiting the cotton-growing States, is the enormous quantity of this article that he sees wherever he goes. In the streets, in the storehouses, on the wharves, it is constantly before him. He will no longer wonder that Gen. Jackson made a breastwork of it in defending New Orleans. At or near the railroad depot in Savannah, there are, sometimes, literally, acres of cotton bales. Standing in view of it, and remembering that this city is but one of the depots for this trade, he can comprehend, to some extent, the remarkable influence which this great American staple exerts, not only upon industrial pursuits, but upon the business, and even upon the politics of the country.

My first impression was that, as nearly all the cotton raised in Georgia was shipped from this port, I should find Savannah frequented from day to day by cottongrowers from the interior. But I was mistaken. Occasionally a specimen of the ‘‘ Crackers ” may be seen at a hotel, but no one can form any correct opinion of the manners, customs, or the intelligence of the people in the back counties by anything which he will see on the seaboard. Their habits are entirely different from those of business men in the North. I found, before leaving the South, that there was very little intercourse between the inhabitants of the planting districts and the cities on the coast.

INSIDE VIEW OF SLAVERY.

I traveled over tlie Central Eailroad six times, from Savannah to Macon, a flourishing inland city, containing some 7000 inhabitants. This road is the great thoroughfare from the interior to the seaboard. Only one passenger car was ever attached to the train. At one time, on a fair day, there were only twelve passengers on board. The highest number at any time was only thirty-five.

The Crackers” send their negroes and mule teams with the cotton to their agents at the railroad depots. These agents forward it to the commission merchants in the ports. The merchants sell it to shippers, and the planters draw on them, at the banks, for their pay. So that there is no necessity for them to go to market themselves. And any one who visits the country remote from the seaboard, will find many slaveholders, who are in easy circumstances, who have never seen a vessel, or a printing press.

As a general thing, also, the Crackers” are very igiiorant. And I may as well state a fact here, which I did not learn until some time after I first visited Savannah. There are few Northern men who are not capable of ascertaining the quantity, and computing the value, of whatever they send to market. I dare say the instance was never known, of a Northern farmer sending his pressed hay to be sold, without having it weighed and marked, and knowing himself the amount. But the cotton-grower is frequently incapable of weighing and marking his cotton, and is, therefore, obliged to send it unmarked, and trust entirely to the honesty of the merchant who acts as his agent.

III. Are The Slaves Contented?

The slave happy ! You may place him where you please ; — you may dry up, to your utmost, the fountain of his feelings, the springs of his thought ; — you may close upon his mind every avenue to knowledge, and cloud it over with artificial night; — you may yoke him to your labor, as the ox which liveth only to work ; — you may put him under any process which, without destroying his value as a slave, will debase and crush him as a rational being ; — you may do this, and the idea that he w^as born to be free will survive it all It is allied to his hopes of immortality ; it is the eternal part of his nature, which oppression caimot reach. It is a torch lit up in his soul by the hand of the Deity, that can never be extinguished by the hand of man.”

Me. Dowell, of Virginia.

Northern men and women who visit their relations in the South, usually find them in the cities and villages, where they see the slaves enjoying the comforts of a poor bed, and other privileges, which slaves in the country seldom, if ever, enjoy. They are liable, therefore, to form too favorable opinions of the condition and treatment of the slaves ; and they often honestly arrive at the conclusion that they are in a better condition than the poor colored population of the North.

Sometimes one is allowed to inquire of the slaves themselves how they fare. The answer, almost invariably, is, that they fare w'oll — have kind masters — -are contented and happy — do not desire their freedom if

INSIDE VIEW OF SLAVERY.

it can only be obtained by leaving the family of their master^ and their good home, to which they are ardently attached; — and the inquirer decides that the Northern abolitionists have greatly exaggerated their sufferings. He does not know that the slave has been educated to deceive in these matters ; and he believes that he is contented and happy, simply because he says so.

At a hotel where I was boarding, in the city of Savannah, there was a Christian slave named ^^John.” His wife had been torn away from him, and carried into the back coQiitry a distance of twenty five miles. John’s affection was so strong that he had several times ^Aum away ” to see her, though he was always whipped severely on his return. At last his master told him that he must give up the old wife, and take a new one. Accordingly, he bought a wife for John,” and commanded the slave to regard and treat her as his wife. John refused to obey, and was whipped, again and again, but he did not yield. A Northern gentleman, who was not acquainted with these facts, had frequently asserted that the slaves were happy, and I suggested that inquiries be made of honest John ” touching his domestic enjoyments. The bell was rung, and John came in.

Now, John,” said my friend, I want you to tell me if you would like to be free.”