Twelve Years a Slave

by Solomon Northup

CHAPTER IV.

CHAPTER IV.

ELIZA'S SORROWS PREPARATION TO EMBARK DRIVEN THROUGH THE

STREETS OK WASHINGTON HAIL, COLUMBIA THE TOMB OF WASHING- TON CLEM RAY THE BREAKFAST ON THE STEAMER THE HAPrT

BIRDS AQUIA CREEK FREDERICKSBURGH — 'ARRIVAL IN RICHMOND

GOODIN AND HIS SLAVE PEN ROBERT, OF CINCINNATI DAVID AND HIS

WIFE MART AND LETHE CLEM'S RETURN HIS SUBSEQUENT ESCAPE

TO CANADA THE BRIG ORLEANS JAMES H. BURCH.

At intervals during the first night of Eliza's incar- ceration in the pen, she complained bitterly of Jacob Brooks, her young mistress' husband. She declared that had she been aware of the deception he intended to practice upon her, he never would have brought her there alive. They had chosen the opportunity of getting her away when Master Berry was absent from the plantation. He had always been kind to her. She wished that she could see him ; but she knew that even he was unable now to rescue her. Then would she commence weeping again — kissing the sleeping children — talking first to one, then to the other, as they lay in their unconscious slumbers, with their heads upon her lap. So wore the long night away ; and when the morning dawned, and night had come again, still she kept mourning on, and would not be consoled.

PREPARATION TO EMEARK. 55

About midnight following, the cell door opened, and Burch and Radburn entered, with lanterns in their hands. Bnrch, with an oath, ordered us to roll up our blankets without delay, and get ready to go on board the boat. He swore we would be left unless we hurried fast. He aroused the children from their slumbers with a rough shake, and said they were d — d sleepy, it appeared. Going out into the yard, he called Clem Ray, ordering him to leave the loft and come into the cell, and bring his blanket with him. When Clem appeared, he placed us side by side, and fastened us together with hand-cuffs — my left hand to his right. John Williams had been ta- ken out a day or two before, his master having redeemed him, greatly to his delight. Clem and I were ordered to march, Eliza and the children fol- lowing. We were conducted into the yard, from thence into the covered passage, and up a flight of steps through a side door into the upper room, where I had heard the walking to and fro. Its furniture was a stove, a few old chairs, and a long table, covered with papers. It was a white-washed room, without any carpet on the floor, and seemed a sort of office. By one of the windows, I remember, hung a rusty sword, which attracted my attention. Burch's trunk was there. In obedience to his orders, I took hold of one of its handles with my unfettered hand, while he taking hold of the other, we proceeded out of the front door into the street in the same order as we had left the cell.

66 TWELVE TEAKS A SLAVE.

It was a dark night. All was quiet. I could see lights, or the reflection of them, over towards Penn- sylvania Avenue, but there was no one, not even a straggler, to be seen. I was almost resolved to at- tempt to break away. Had I not been hand-cuffed the attempt would certainly have been made, what- ever consequence might have followed. Radburn was in the rear, carrying a large stick, and hurrying lip the children as fast as the little ones could walk. So we passed, hand-cuffed and in silence, through the streets of Washington — through the Capital of a na- tion, whose theory of government, we are told, rests on the foundation of man's inalienable right to life, 'liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ! Hail ! Co- lumbia, happy land, indeed !

Beaching the steamboat, we were quickly hustled into the hold, among barrels and boxes of freight. A colored servant brought a light, the bell rung, and soon the vessel started down the Potomac, carrying us we knew not where. The bell tolled as we passed the tomb of "Washington ! Burch, no doubt, with un- covered head, bowed reverently before the sacred ash- es of the man who devoted his illustrious life to the liberty of his country.

None of us slept that night but Randall and little Emmy. For the first time Clem Pay was wholly overcome. To him the idea of going south was ter ■ rible in the extreme. He was leaving the friends and associations of his youth ■ — ■ every thing that was dear and precious to his heart — in all probability never

BREAKFAST ON THE STEAMER. 57

to return. He and Eliza mingled their tears together, bemoaning their cruel fate. For my own part, diffi- cult as it was, I endeavored to keep up my spirits. I resolved in my mind a hundred plans of escape, and fully determined to make the attempt the first despe- rate chance that offered. I had by this time become satisfied, however, that my true policy was to say no- thing further on the subject of my having been born a freeman. It would but expose me to mal-treatment, and diminish the chances of liberation.

After sunrise in the morning we were called up on deck to breakfast. Burch took our hand-cuffs off, and we sat down to table. He asked Eliza if she would take a dram. She declined, thanking him politely. During the meal we were all silent — not a word pass- ed between us. A mulatto woman who served at ta- ble seemed to take an interest in our behalf — told us to cheer up, and not to be so cast down. Breakfast over, the hand-cuffs were restored, and Burch ordered us out on the stern deck. We sat down together on some boxes, still saying nothing in Burch's presence. Occasionally a passenger would walk out to where we were, look at us for a while, then silently return.

It was a very pleasant morning. The fields along the river were covered with verdure, far in advance of what I had been accustomed to see at that season of the year. The sun shone out warmly ; the birds were singing in the trees. The happy birds — I en- vied them. I wished for wings like them, that I might cleave the air to where my birdlings waited 0*

53 TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE.

vainly for their father's coming, in the cooler region of the North.

In the forenoon the steamer reached Aquia Creek. There the passengers took stages — Burch and his five slaves occupying one exclusively. He laughed with the children, and at one stopping place went so far as to purchase them a piece of gingerbread. He told me to hold up my head and look smart. That I might, perhaps, get a good master if I behaved my- self. I made him no reply. His face was hateful to me, and I could not bear to look upon it. I sat in the corner, cherishing in my heart the hope, not yet extinct, of some day meeting the tyrant on the soil of my native State.

At Fredericksburo-h we were transferred from the stage coach to a car, and before dark arrived in Rich- mond, the chief city of Yirginia. At this city we were taken from the cars, and driven through the street to a slave pen, between the railroad depot and the river, kept by a Mr. Gooclin. This pen is similar to Williams' in "Washington, except it is somewhat larger; and besides, there were two small houses standing at opposite corners within the yard. These houses are susually found within slave yards, being used as rooms for the examination of human chattels by purchasers before concluding a bargain. Un- soundness in a slave, as well as in a horse, detracts materially from his value. If no warranty is given, a close examination is a matter of particular impor- tance to the negro jockey.

GOODIN AND HIS SLAVE PEN. 59

"We were met at the door of Goodin's yard by that gentleman himself — a short, fat man, with a round, plump face, black hair and whiskers, and a complex- ion almost as dark as some of his own negroes. He had a hard, stern look, and was perhaps about fifty years of age. Burch and he met with great cordiali- ty. They were evidently old friends. Shaking each other warmly by the hand, Burch remarked he had brought some company, inquired at what time the brig would leave, and was answered that it would probably leave the next day at such an hour. Good- in then turned to me, took hold of my arm, turned me partly round, looked at me sharply with the air of one who considered himself a good judge of property, and as if estimating in his own mind about how much I was worth.

" Well, boy, where did you come from ?"

Forgetting myself, for a moment, I answered, " From New-York."

" New- York ! H — 1 ! what have you been doing up there ?" was his astonished interrogatory.

Observing Burch at this moment looking at me with an angry expression that conveyed a meaning it was not difficult to understand, I immediately said, " O, i have only been up that way a piece," in a manner intended to imply that although I might have been as far as New- York, yet I wished it distinctly understood that I did not belong to that free State, nor to any other. |

Goodin then turned to Clem, and then to Eliza and

60 TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE.

the children, examining them severally, and asking various questions. He was pleased with Emily, as was every one who saw the child's sweet countenance. She was not as tidy as when I first beheld her ; her hair was now somewhat disheveled ; but through its unkempt and soft profusion there still beamed a little face of most surpassing loveliness. " Altogether we were a fair lot — a devilish good lot," he said, enforc- ing that opinion with more than one emphatic adjec- tive not found in the Christian vocabulary. Thereup- on we passed into the yard. Quite a number of slaves, as many as thirty I should say, were moving about, or sitting on benches under the shed. They were all cleanly dressed — the men with hats, the wo- men with handkerchiefs tied about their heads.

Burch and Goodin, after separating from us, walk- ed up the steps at the back part of the main building, and sat down upon the door sill. They entered into conversation, but the subject of it I could not hear. Presently Burch came down into the yard, unfettered rne, and led me into one of the small houses.

" You told that man you came from New- York," said he.

I replied, " I told him I had been up as far as New- York, to be sure, but did not tell him I belonged there, nor that I was a freeman. I meant no harm at all, Master Burch. I would not have said it had I thought."

He looked at me a moment as if he was ready to devour me, then turning round went out. In a few

KQBEKT, OF CINCINNATI. 61

minutes he returned. " If ever I hear you say a word about ISTew-York, or about your freedom, I will be the death of you — I will kill you ; you may rely on that," he ejaculated fiercely.

I doubt not he understood then better than I did, the danger and the penalty of selling a free man into slavery. He felt the necessity of closing my mouth against the crime he knew he was committing. Of course, my life would not have weighed a feather, in any emergency requiring such a sacrifice. Undoubt- edly, he meant precisely what he said.

Under the shed on one side of the yard, there was constructed a rough table, while overhead were sleep- ing lofts — the same as in the pen at "Washington. Af- ter partaking at this table of our supper of pork and bread, I was hand-cuffed to a large yellow man, quite stout and fleshy, with a countenance expressive of the utmost melancholy. He was a man of intelli- gence and information. Chained together, it was not •long before we became acquainted with each other's history. His name was Robert. Like myself, he had been born free, and had a wife and two chil- dren in Cincinnati. He said he had come south with two men, who had hired him in the city of his resi- dence. Without free papers, he had been seized at Fredericksburgh, placed in confinement, and beaten until he had learned, as I had, the necessity and the policy of silence. He had been in Goodin's pen about three weeks. To this man I became much attached. "We could sympathize with, and understand

62 TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE.

each other. It was with tears and a heavy heart, not many clays subsequently, that I saw him die, and looked for the last time upon his lifeless form !

Robert and myself, with Clem, Eliza and her chil- dren, slept that night upon our blankets, in one of the small houses in the yard. There were four others, all from the same plantation, who had been sold, and were now on their way south, who also occupied it with us. David and his wife, Caroline, both mulat- toes, were exceedingly affected. They . dreaded the thought of being put into the cane and cotton fields ; but their greatest source of anxiety was the apprehen- sion of being separated. Mary, a tall, lithe girl, of a most jetty black, was listless and apparently indiffer- ent. Like many of the class, she scarcely knew there was such a word as freedom. Brought up in the ig- norance of a brute, she possessed but little more than a brute's intelligence. She was one of those, and there are very many, who fear nothing but their mas- ter's lash, and know no further duty than to obey his voice. The other was Lethe. She was of an entirely different character. She had long, straight hair, and bore more the appearance of an Indian than a negro woman. She had sharp and spiteful eyes, and con- tinually gave utterance to the language of hatred and revenge. Her husband had been sold. She knew not where she was. An exchange of masters, she was sure, could not be for the worse. She cared not whither they might carry her. Pointing to the scars upon her face, the desperate creature wished

CLEM EAT. 63

that she might see the day when she could wipe them off in some man's blood !

"While we were thus learning the history of each other's wretchedness, Eliza was seated in a corner by herself, singing hymns and praying for her children. "Wearied from the loss of so much sleep, I could no longer bear up against the advances of that " sweet restorer," and laying down by the side of Robert, on the floor, soon forgot my troubles, and slept until the dawn of day.

In the morning, having swept the yard, and wash- ed ourselves, under Goodin's superintendence, we were ordered to roll up our blankets, and make ready for the continuance of our journey. Clem Ray was informed that he would go no further, Burch, for some cause, having concluded to carry him back to Wash- ington. He was much rejoiced. Shaking hands, we parted in the slave pen at Richmond, and I have not seen him since. But, much to my surprise, since my return, I learned that he had escaped from bondage, and on his way to the free soil of Canada, lodged one night at the house of my brother-in-law in Saratoga, informing my family of the place and the condition in which he left me.

In the afternoon we were drawn up, two abreast, Robert and myself in advance, and in this order, driv- en by Burch and Goodin from the yard, through the streets of Richmond to the brig Orleans. She was a vessel of respectable size, full rigged, and freighted principally with tobacco. We were all on board by

TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE.

ve o'clock. Burcli brought us each a tin cup and a spoon. There were forty of us in the brig, being all, except Clem, that were in the pen.

"With a small pocket knife that had not been taken from me, I began cutting the initials of my name upon the tin cup. The others immediately flocked round me, requesting me to mark theirs in a similar manner. In time, I gratified them all, of which they did not appear to be forgetful.

We were all stowed away in the hold at night, and the hatch barred down. We laid on boxes, or where- ever- there was room enough to stretch our blankets on the floor.

Burch accompanied us no farther than Richmond, returning from that point to the capital with Clem. !Not until the lapse of almost twelve years, to wit, in January last, in the Washington police office, did I set my eyes upon his face again. James H. Burch was a slave-trader — buying men, women and children at low prices, and selling them at an advance. He was a speculator in human flesh — a disreputable calling — and so considered at the South. For the present he disappears from the scenes recorded in this narrative, but he will appear again before its close, not in the character of a man-whip- ping tyrant, but as an arrested, cringing criminal in a court of law, that failed to do him justice.