A lady once remarked to me that she did not believe that a northern man would ever become fully reconciled to the institution of slavery, and that his influence and sentiments, whatever might be his profession of attachment to the peculiar institution, would be against it. The cause of the general opposition to northern men is their opposition to slavery. Their testimony is against its abominations and barbarities, and hence the wish to impair the credibility of the witnesses.
An illustration of the working of the institution may be found in the following letter:
Kosciusko, Attala County, Mississippi,
December 25, 1861.
Mr. William Jackman:
Dear Sir—Your last kind and truly welcome letter came to hand in due course of mail. I owe you an apology for delaying an answer so long. My apparent neglect was occasioned by no want of respect for you; but in consequence of the disturbed state of the country, and difficulty of communication with the North, I feared my reply would never reach you. Now, however, by directing “via Norfolk and flag of truce,” letters are sent across the lines to the North. In your letter you desired me, from this stand-point, to give you my observations of the workings of the peculiar institution, and an expression of my views as to its consistency with the eternal principles of rectitude and justice. In reply, I will give you a plain narrative of facts.
On my advent to the South, I was at first struck with the fact that the busy hum of labour had in some measure ceased. What labour I did observe progressing, was done with little skill, and mainly by negroes. I called upon the Rev. Dr. R. J. Breckinridge, to whom I had a letter of introduction, who treated me with the greatest kindness, inviting me to make his house my home when I visited that section of country. On leaving his house, he gave me some directions as to the road I must travel to reach a certain point. “You will pass,” said he, “a blacksmith’s shop, where a one-eyed man is at work—my property.” The phrase, “my property,” I had never before heard applied to a human being, and though I had never been taught to regard the relation of master and slave as a sinful relation, yet it grated harshly upon my ears to hear a human being, a tradesman, called a chattel; but it grated much more harshly, a week after this, to hear the groans of two such chattels, as they underwent a severe flagellation, while chained to the whipping-post, because they had, by half an hour, overstayed their time with their families on an adjoining plantation.
The next peculiar abomination of the peculiar institution which I observed, was the licentiousness engendered by it. Mr. D. T——, of Madison county, Kentucky, had a white family of children, and a black, or rather mulatto family. As his white daughters married, he gave each a mulatto half-sister, as a waiting-girl, or body-servant. Mr. K.——, of Winchester, Kentucky, had a mulatto daughter, and he was also the father of her child, thus re-enacting Lot’s sin. Dr. C——, of Tishomingo county, Mississippi, has a negro concubine, and a white servant to wait on her. Mr. B.——, of Marshall county, Mississippi, lived with his white wife till he had grandchildren, some of whom came to school to me, when he repudiated his white wife, and attached himself to a very homely old African, who superintends his household, and rules his other slaves with rigour. Mr. S——, of Tishomingo county, Mississippi, has a negro concubine, and a large family of mulatto children. He once brought this woman to church in Rienzi, to the great indignation of the white ladies, who removed to a respectable distance from her.
I preached recently to a large congregation of slaves, the third of whom were as white as myself. Some of them had red hair and blue eyes. If there are any marked characteristics of their masters’ families, the mulatto slaves are possessed of these characteristics. I refer to physical peculiarities, such as large mouths, humped shoulders, and peculiar expressions of countenance. I asked a gentleman how it happened that some of his slaves had red hair. He replied that he had a red-headed overseer for several years.
I never knew a pious overseer—never! There may be many, but I never saw one. Overseers, as a class, are worse than slaveholders themselves. They are cruel, brutal, licentious, dissipated, and profane. They always carry a loaded whip, a revolver, and a Bowie-knife. These men have the control of women, whom they often whip to death. Mr. P——, who resided near Holly Springs, had a negro woman whipped to death while I was at his house during a session of Presbytery. Mr. C——, of Waterford, Mississippi, had a woman whipped to death by his overseer. But such cruel scourgings are of daily occurrence. Colonel H——, a member of my church, told me yesterday that he ordered a boy, who he supposed was feigning sickness, to the whipping-post, but that he had not advanced ten steps toward it, when he fell dead!—and the servant was free from his master. During our conversation, a girl passed. “There is a girl,” said he, “who does not look very white in the face, owing to exposure; but when I strip her to whip her, I find that she has a skin as fair as my wife.” Mrs. F—— recently whipped a boy to death within half a mile of my residence. A jury of inquest returned a verdict that he came to his death by cruelty; but nothing more was done. Mrs. M—— and her daughter, of Holly Springs, abused a girl repeatedly. She showed her bruises to some of my acquaintances, and they believed them fatal. She soon after died. Mr. S——, a member of my church, has several maimed negroes from abuse on the part of the overseer.
I am residing on the banks of the Yock-a-nookany, which means “meandering,” when translated from the Indian tongue. In this vicinity there are large plantations, cultivated by hundreds of negroes. The white population is sparse. Every night the negroes are brought to a judgment-seat. The overseer presides. If they have not laboured to suit him, or if their task is unfulfilled, they are chained to a post, and severely whipped. The victims are invariably stripped; to what extent, is at the option of the overseer. In Louisiana, women, preparatory to whipping, are often stripped to a state of perfect nudity. Old Mr. C——, of Waterford, Mississippi, punished his negroes by slitting the soles of their feet with his Bowie-knife! One man he put into a cotton-press, and turned the screw till life was extinct. He stated that he only intended to alarm the man, but carried the joke too far. I have heard women thus plead, in piteous accents, when chained to the whipping-post, and stripped: “O, my God, master! don’t whip me! I was sick! indeed I was sick! I had a chill, and the fever is on me now! I haven’t tasted a morsel to-day! You know I works when I is well! O for God’s sake don’t whip a poor sick nigger! My poor chile’s sick too! Missis thinks it’s a dyin’! O master, for the love of God, don’t cut a poor distressed woman wid your whip! I’ll try to do better, ef you’ll only let me off this once!” These piteous plaints only rouse the ire of their cruel task-masters, who sometimes knock them down in the midst of their pleadings. I have known an instance of a woman giving birth to a child at the whipping-post. The fright and pain brought on premature labour.