Fifty Years in Chains; or, the Life of an American Slave

Transcriber's Note
The cover image was produced by Jeroen Hellingman and has been placed into the public domain.
My God! can such things be? Hast Thou not said that whatsoe'er is done Unto thy weakest and thy humblest one, Is even done to Thee? —Whittier.
New-York H. DAYTON, PUBLISHER 36 HOWARD STREET. Indianapolis, Ind.:—Asher & Company. 1860.
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1858, by H. DAYTON, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.
J. J. REED, PRINTER & STEREOTYPER, 43 Centre-St., N. Y.
The story which follows is true in every particular. Responsible citizens of a neighboring State can vouch for the reality of the narrative. The language of the slave has not at all times been strictly adhered to, as a half century of bondage unfitted him for literary work. The subject of the story is still a slave by the laws of this country, and it would not be wise to reveal his name.

FIFTY YEARS IN CHAINS OR, THE LIFE OF AN AMERICAN SLAVE.
SEPARATED FROM MY MOTHER.
My story is a true one, and I shall tell it in a simple style. It will be merely a recital of my life as a slave in the Southern States of the Union—a description of negro slavery in the model Republic.
My grandfather was brought from Africa and sold as a slave in Calvert county, in Maryland. I never understood the name of the ship in which he was imported, nor the name of the planter who bought him on his arrival, but at the time I knew him he was a slave in a family called Maud, who resided near Leonardtown. My father was a slave in a family named Hauty, living near the same place. My mother was the slave of a tobacco planter, who died when I was about four years old. My mother had several children, and they were sold upon master's death to separate purchasers. She was sold, my father told me, to a Georgia trader. I, of all her children, was the only one left in Maryland. When sold I was naked, never having had on clothes in my life, but my new master gave me a child's frock, belonging to one of his own children. After he had purchased me, he dressed me in this garment, took me before him on his horse, and started home; but my poor mother, when she saw me leaving her for the last time, ran after me, took me down from the horse, clasped me in her arms, and wept loudly and bitterly over me. My master seemed to pity her, and endeavored to soothe her distress by telling her that he would be a good master to me, and that I should not want anything. She then, still holding me in her arms, walked along the road beside the horse as he moved slowly, and earnestly and imploringly besought my master to buy her and the rest of her children, and not permit them to be carried away by the negro buyers; but whilst thus entreating him to save her and her family, the slave-driver, who had first bought her, came running in pursuit of her with a raw-hide in his hand. When he overtook us, he told her he was her master now, and ordered her to give that little negro to its owner, and come back with him.