Octavia, the Octoroon

by J. F. Lee

On arriving at the plantation Simon was immediately arrested and asked where the gold was. Simon said he once knew, but didn't then, which was true, as his former mistress had had it moved. Henry shouted that "Simon was lying." The captain informed him that he had orders to hang him if he did not divulge the whereabouts of the gold. He still protested that he knew nothing about it then. The captain ordered him tied, amid the screams of Elsie and Octavia. Simon then tried to reason with the captain, telling him of harboring the Union spy and the escaped soldier; of his planning the escape of Elsie, Octavia, Jim and Jack; of Henry's refusal to go, and that he was the one that ought to be hung. Henry hollered out, "He's a liar; I wanted to go and he wouldn't let me." The captain said he had to execute his orders, and ordered Simon taken to the nearest tree, when Octavia, giving a loud scream, fell on her knees before the captain (who reined his horse up), exclaiming, "Oh, Mister Taptain, pease don't hang Uncle Simon; he ain't done nothin'!"

The captain thought he had never seen a lovelier object in his life, and his heart, that had probably been hardened by a four years' war, was touched. That beautiful, kneeling child, with streaming locks and eyes of heavenly blue, and cheeks like a ripe peach, was enough to melt a heart of stone. He dismounted and gathered the child in his arms, caressing and kissing her, saying that she was exactly like his little Octavia at home. He drew a picture from his pocket of his child, and it proved to be the image of this child. He told Octavia that he would release her uncle. She showed her appreciation by caressing the captain, who ordered all the stock on the place, with negro men on them, to be carried off. Whether they really intended to hang Simon is not known, but certain it is that several slaveholders were hung about that time to extort from them the whereabouts of hidden treasure. This was done by the ex-slaves, probably mostly for revenge. But it is to the honor of the Union soldiers that they did not countenance any such action, and in some instances rescued the parties from a probable death. This revenge was to be expected, as most any race, after being in bondage a hundred years or more, if left to themselves and had the power, would do the same.

There was great lamentation on the part of the negro men's wives when their husbands left. Simon, Elsie and Octavia were the only composed ones on the place. Simon assured them that all of them would soon be back.

After this wholesale foraging of negroes and stock, things indeed looked desolate. The crop had been planted, good stands obtained; it had been worked once and was very promising. But under the present status of affairs it was out of the question to try and work it. Simon and Elsie, however, did not despair. Both had been raised to work, knew how, and could do so again. The oxen on the plantation had been unmolested, a yoke of which were pressed into service, Simon doing the plowing and Elsie the hoeing. In a few days the negroes who had been carried off began to come in, until about all had returned. Simon advised each to harness up the oxen on the place and plow them, and to break to the plow a drove of half-grown mules and horse colts that were on the place. By this means probably half of the farm could be plowed and cultivated. Simon told each man that under the changed order of things it was "every fellow for himself, even if the devil got the hindmost." It was only a question of a short time now when the Confederacy would collapse, as Johnson was fleeing before Sherman in the Carolinas, and Lee, having evacuated Richmond, was hard pressed by Grant. Every State had been invaded, and in a few weeks the Confederate Government would fall to pieces and the soldiers return home, Colonel R. among the number, and he could then take charge of the plantation himself and make any change he saw fit.

Simon was satisfied, however, that this dividing up of the hands in squads would meet with the approbation of Colonel R., who would probably be a month later coming home than the other soldiers, as he was in prison in the far North when the Southern armies surrendered.

Before going to work under the new regime Simon made a visit to Colonel R.'s cotton and found it all O.K. He and Elsie then went to battle against "General Green," who had begun his depredations on the growing crop by this temporary cessation of hostilities against him. The crop was half made when Colonel R. made his appearance on his place. He expressed himself as well pleased in the way each hand was making use of what facilities the military cyclone had left in its path, and for them to carry things on as they were then doing, and when the crop was gathered he would give them a liberal share of it. The harvest proved to be a bountiful one, and the negroes were greatly elated at the success of this their first attempt to farm without an overseer or foreman. Colonel R. had a private interview with Simon, when both went to inspect the cotton that Simon had been intrusted with. They found it intact and in a good state of preservation. Simon then and there made a full confession of his share in the attempted escape of Elsie and child, of his apprehension and imprisonment, of his letter to him and its return, of his letter to his mistress advising her of the gold, and that it would be best to move it, etc.

The Colonel replied that he would have liberated Elsie and the child anyway, and didn't much blame him in trying to effect their escape, and that the only blame he attached to it was the sending off with the party Jack and Jim. However, he was satisfied with Simon's stewardship, and would now proceed to count him out the ten thousand dollars in gold which he had promised him, and that he would engage him as superintendent on his farm for the ensuing year at a salary of two thousand dollars per annum, thus literally carrying out their compact. It is needless to say that Simon hired a substitute to plow the oxen.

They returned to the farm, had all the ex-slaves assembled, when the Colonel made them a nice, short speech, commending them for their faithfulness during his absence in the army; that the Confederacy had been beaten, the war was over, and that they were free men, women and children; that whosoever may have been responsible for slavery in the United States, that whether it was right or wrong, the South had resorted to the arbitrament of arms, and as a result they were free, and that next year he would contract with any or all who wanted to farm on his place, under the superintendency of Simon. During this talk he had gotten a good look at Octavia, not knowing whose child it was, called Simon aside, and asked whose it was; that it was a beautiful child, and looked as if it were pure white. Simon then said that it was a delicate subject, but that as he had asked for information, he would give it to him. The child was Elsie's, and she says that he, the Colonel, is its father. He then admitted to Simon that it was so, and that, while at home on furlough at one time during the war, he so far transgressed the laws of virtue, as to have an innocent, illegitimate child brought into existence. He also said that Elsie was not so much to blame as he, and that he was ashamed of his conduct, all of which was in the past, and could not be undone, and that he would atone, as far as possible, for his transgression, give Octavia the best education, in every branch, that time, money and labor would procure, and that, at his death, he would remember Octavia in his will, all of which was scrupulously carried out. The only conditions imposed were that the child be given to Simon, who would be her trustee or agent, in carrying all these things out, which had to be done secretly.

CHAPTER VIII.