Twelve Years a Slave

by Solomon Northup

CHAPTER XI.

CHAPTER XI.

THE MISTRESS' GARDEN THE CRIMSON AND GOLDEN FRUIT ORANGB

AND POMEGRANATE TREES RETURN TO BAYOU BCEUF MASTER FORD's

REMARKS ON THE WAY THE MEETING WITH TrBEATS HIS ACCOUNT OF

THE CHASE FORD CENSURES HIS BRUTALITY ARRIVAL AT THE PLANTA- TION ASTONISHMENT OF THE SLAVES ON SEEING ME THE ANTICIPATED

FLOGGING KENTUCKY JOHN MR. ELDRET, THE PLANTER ELDRET's

SAM TRIP TO THE "BIG CANE BRAKE" THE TRADITION OF "SUTTON'S

FIELD" FOREST TREES GNATS AND MOSQUITOS THE ARRIVAL OF BLACK

WOMEN IN THE BIG CANE LUMBER WOMEN SUDDEN APPEARANCE OF

TIBEATS HIS PROVOKING TREATMENT VISIT TO BAYOU BCEUF THE

SLAVE PASS SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY THE LAST OF ELIZA SALE TO

EDWIN EPPS.

After a long sleep, sometime in the afternoon I awoke, refreshed, but very sore and stiff. Sally came in and talked with me, while John cooked me some dinner. Sally was in great trouble, as well as myself, one of her children being ill, and she feared it could not survive. Dinner over, after walking about the quarters for a while, visiting Sally's cabin and looking at the sick child, I strolled into the madam's garden. Though it was a season of the year when the voices of the birds are silent, and the trees are stripped of their summer glories in more frigid climes, yet the whole variety of roses were then blooming there, and

THE MISTRESS' GARDEN. 147

the long, luxuriant vines creeping over the frames. The crimson and golden fruit hung half hidden amidst the younger and older blossoms of the peach, the or- ange, the plum, and the pomegranate ; for, in that region of almost perpetual warmth, the leaves are falling and the buds bursting into bloom the whole year long.

I indulged the most grateful feelings towards Mas- ter and Mistress Ford, and wishing in some manner to repay their kindness, commenced trimming the vines, and afterwards weeding out the grass from among the orange and pomegranate trees. The latter grows eight or ten feet high, and its fruit, though lar- ger, is similar in appearance to the jelly -flower. It has the luscious flavor of the strawberry. Oranges, peaches, plums, and most other fruits are indigenous to the rich, warm soil of Avoyelles ; but the apple, the most common of them all in colder latitudes, is rare- ly to be seen.

Mistress Ford came out presently, saying it was praise-worthy in me, but I was not in a condition to la- bor, and might rest myself at the quarters until mas- ter should go down to Bayou Bceuf, which would not be that day, and it might not be the next. I said to her — to be sure, I felt bad, and was stiff, and that my foot pained me, the stubs and thorns having so torn it , but thought such exercise would not hurt me, and that it was a great pleasure to work for so good a mistress. Thereupon she returned to the great house, and for three days I was diligent in the garden,

148 TWELVE TEAE3 A SLATE.

cleaning the walks, weeding the flower beds, and pulling up the rank grass beneath the jessamine vines, which the gentle and generous hand of my protectress had taught to clamber along the walls.

The fourth morning, having become recruited and refreshed, Master Ford ordered me to make ready to accompany him to the bayou. There was but one saddle horse at the opening, all the others with the mules having been sent down to the plantation. I said I could walk, and bidding Sally and John good- bye, left the opening, trotting along by the horse's side.

That little paradise in the Great Pine Woods was the oasis in the desert, towards which my heart turn- ed lovingly, during many years of bondage. I went forth from it now with regret and sorrow, not so over- whelming, however, as if it had then been given me to know that I should never return to it again.

Master Ford urged me to take his place occasion- ally on the horse, to rest me ; but I said no, I was not tired, and it was better for me to walk than him. He said many kind and cheering things to me on the way, riding slowly, in order that I might keep pace with him. The goodness of God was manifest, he declared, in my miraculous escape from the swamp. As Dan- iel came forth unharmed from the den of lions, and as Jonah had been preserved in the whale's belly, even so had I been delivered from evil by the Al- mighty. He interrogated me in regard to the various fears and emotions I had experienced during the day

ford's remarks on the WAT. 149

and night, and if I had felt, at any time, a desire to pray. I felt forsaken of the whole world, I answered him, and was praying mentally all the while. At snch times, said he, the heart of man turns instinct- ively towards his Maker. In prosperity, and when there is nothing to injure or make him afraid, he re- members Him not, and is ready to defy Him ; but place him in the midst of dangers, cut him off from human aid, let the grave open before him — then it is, in the time of his tribulation, that the scoffer and unbelieving man turns to God for help, feeling there is no other hope, or refuge, or safety, save in his pro- tecting arm.

So did that benignant man speak to me of this life and of the life hereafter ; of the goodness and power of God, and of the vanity of earthly things, as we journeyed along the solitary road towards Bayou Boeuf.

When within some five miles of the plantation, we discovered a horseman at a distance, galloping tow- ards us. As he came near I saw that it was Tibeats ! He looked at me a moment, but did not address me, and turning about, rode along side by side with Ford. I trotted silently at their horses' heels, listing to their conversation. Ford informed him of my arrival in the Pine "Woods three days before, of the sad plight I was in, and of the difficulties and dangers I had en- countered.

" "Well," exclaimed Tibeats, omitting his usual oaths in the presence of Ford, " I never saw such running

150 TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE.

before. I'll bet him against a hundred dollars, he'll beat any nigger in Louisiana. I offered John David Cheney twenty-five dollars to catch him, dead or alive, but he outran his dogs in a fair race. Them Cheney dogs ain't much, after all. Dunwoodie's hounds would have had him down before he touched the pal- mettoes. Somehow the dogs got off the track, and we had to give up the hunt. We rode the horses as far as we could, and then kept on foot till the water was three feet deep. The boys said he was drowned, sure. I allow I wanted a shot at him mightily. Ever since, I have been riding up and down the bayou, but had'nt much hope of catching him — thought he was dead, sartin. Oh, he's a cuss to run — that nigger is !"

In this way Tibeats ran on, describing his search in the swamp, the wonderful speed with which I had fled before the hounds, and when he had finished, Master Ford responded by saying, I had always been a willing and faithful boy with him ; that he was sor- ry we had such trouble ; that, according to Piatt's story, he had been inhumanly treated, and that he, Tibeats, was himself in fault. Using hatchets and broad-axes upon slaves was shameful, and should not be allowed, he remarked. "This is no way of dealing with them, when first brought into the country. It will have a pernicious influence, and set them all run- ning away. The swamps will be full of them. A lit- tle kindness would be far more effectual in restraining them, and rendering them obedient, than the use of such deadly weapons. Every planter on the bayou

FOKD CENSURES TTBEATS. 151

should frown upon such inhumanity. It is for the in- terest of all to do so. It is evident enough, Mr. Tib- eats, that you and Piatt cannot live together. You dislike him, and would not hesitate to kill him, and knowing it, he will run from you again through fear of his life. Now, Tibeats, you must sell him, or hire him out, at least. Unless you do so, I shall take measures to get him out of your possession."

In this spirit Ford addressed him the remainder of the distance. I opened not my mouth. On reaching the plantation they entered the great house, while I repaired to Eliza's cabin. The slaves were astonish- ed to find me there, on returning from the field, sup- posing I was drowned. That night, again, they gath- ered about the cabin to listen to the story of my adventure. They took it for granted I would be whip- ped, and that it would be severe, the well-known pen- alty of running away being five hundred lashes.

" Poor fellow," said Eliza, taking me by the hand, " it would have been better for you if you had drown- ed. You have a cruel master, and he will kill you yet, I am afraid."

Lawson suggested that it might be, overseer Cha- pin would be appointed to inflict the punishment, in which case it would not be severe, whereupon Mary, Rachel, Bristol, and others hoped it would be Master Ford, and then it would be no whipping at all. They all pitied me and tried to console me, and were sad in view of the castigation that awaited me, except Ken- tucky John. There were no bounds to his laughter ;

152 TWELVE TEAKS A SLAVE.

lie filled the cabin with cachinnations, holding his sides to prevent an explosion, and the cause of his noisy mirth was the idea of my outstripping the hounds. Somehow, he looked at the subject in a comical light. " I hnow'd dey would'nt cotch him, when he run cross de plantation. O, de lor', did'nt Piatt pick his feet right up, tho', hey ? When dem dogs got whar he was, he was'nt dar — haw, haw, haw ! O, de lor' a' mity !" — and then Kentucky John relapsed into an- other of his boisterous fits.

Early the next morning, Tibeats left the plantation. In the course of the forenoon, while sauntering about the gin-house^ a tall, good-looking man came to me, and inquired if I was Tibeats' boy, that youthful ap- pellation being applied indiscriminately to slaves even though they may have passed the number of three score years and ten. I took off my hat, and an- swered that I was.

"How would you like to work for me?" he in- quired.

" Oh, I would like to, very much," said I, inspired with a sudden hope of getting away from Tibeats.

" You worked under Myers at Peter Tanner's, didn't you ? "

I replied I had, adding some complimentary re- marks that Myers had made concerning me.

" Well, boy," said he, " I have hired you of your master to work for me in the " Big Cane Brake," thirty-eight miles from here, clown on Red River."

This man was Mr. Eldret, who lived below Ford's,

ELDEET, THE PLANTER. 153

on the same side of the bayou. I accompanied him to his plantation, and in the morning started with his slave Sam, and a Avagon-load of provisions, drawn by four mules, for the Big Cane, Eldret and Myers hav- ing preceded us on horseback. This Sam was a na- tive of Charleston, where he had a mother, brother and sisters. He " allowed " — a common word among both black and white — that Tibeats was a mean man, and hoped, as I most earnestly did also, that his mas- ter would buy me.

"We proceeded down the south shore of the bayou, crossing it at Carey's plantation ; from thence to Huff Power, passing which, we came upon the Bayou Rouge road, which runs towards Red River. After passing through Bayou Rouge Swamp, .and just at sunset, turning from the highway, we struck off into the " Big Cane Brake." We followed an unbeaten track, scarcely wide enough to admit the wagon. The cane, such as are used for fishing-rods, were as thick as they could stand. A person could not be seen through them the distance of a rod. The paths of wild beasts run through them in various directions — the bear and the American tiger abounding in these brakes, and wherever there is a basin of stagnant wa- ter, it is full of alligators.

We kept on our lonely course through the " Big Cane" several miles, when we entered a clearing, known as " Sutton's Field." Many years before, a man by the name of Sutton had penetrated the wilder- ness of cane to this solitary place. Tradition has it, G*

154 TWELVE YEAE3 A SLATE.

that he fled thither, a fugitive, not from service, but from justice. Here he lived alone — recluse and her- mit of the swamp — with his own hands planting the seed and gathering in the harvest. One day a band of Indians stole upon his solitude, and after a bloody battle, overpowered and massacred him. For miles the country round, in the slaves' quarters, and on the piazzas of " great houses," where white children listen to superstitious tales, the story goes, that that spot, in the heart of the "Big Cane," is a haunted place. For more than a quarter of a century, human voices had rarely, if ever, disturbed the silence of the clearing. Kank and noxious weeds had overspread the once cul- tivated field — serpents sunned themselves on the door- way of the crumbling cabin. It was indeed a dreary picture of desolation.

Passing " Sutton's Field," we followed a new-cnt road two miles farther, which brought us to its ter- mination. We had now reached the wild lands of Mr. Eldret, where he contemplated clearing up an extensive plantation. We went to work next morn- ing with our cane-knives, and cleared a sufficient space to allow the erection of two cabins — one for Myers and Eldret, the other for Sam, myself, and the slaves that were to join us. We were now in the midst of trees of enormous growth, whose wide-spread- ing branches almost shut out the light of the sun, while the space between the trunks was an . impervi- ous mass of cane, with here and there an occasional palmetto.

LIFE IX THE BIG CANE BRAKE. 155

The bay and the sycamore, the oak and the cypress, reach a growth unparalleled, in those fertile lowlands bordering the Red River. From every tree, moreover, hang long, large masses of moss, presenting to the eye unaccustomed to them, a striking and singular appear- ance. This moss, in large quantities, is sent north, and there used for manufacturing purposes.

We cut down oaks, split them into rails, and with these erected temporary cabins. We covered the roofs with the broad palmetto leaf, an excellent sub- stitute for shingles, as long as they last.

The greatest annoyance I met with here were small flies, gnats and mosquitoes. They swarmed the air. They penetrated the porches of the ear, the nose, the eyes, the mouth. They sucked themselves beneath the skin. It was impossible to brush or beat them off. It seemed, indeed, as if they would devour us — carry us away piecemeal, in their small tormenting mouths.

A lonelier spot, or one more disagreeable, than the centre of the " Big Cane Brake," it would be difficult to conceive ; yet to me it was a paradise, in compari- son with any other place in the company of Master Tibeats. I labored hard, and oft-times was weary and fatigued, yet I could lie down at night in peace, and arise in the morning without fear.

In the course of a fortnight, four black girls came down from Eldret's plantation — Charlotte, Fanny, Cresia and Nelly. They were all large and stout. Axes were put into their hands, and they were sent

156 TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE.

out with Sam and myself to cut trees. They were excellent choppers, the largest oak or sycamore stand- ing but a brief season before their heavy and well- directed blows. At piling logs, they were equal to any man. There are lumberwomen as well as lum- bermen in the forests of the South. In fact, in the region of the Bayou Bceuf they perform their share of all the labor required on the plantation. They plough, drag, drive team, clear wild lands, work on the high- way, and so forth. Some planters, owning large cot- ton and sugar plantations, have none other than the labor of slave women. Such an one is Jim Burns, who lives on the north shore of the bayou, opposite the plantation of John Fogaman.

On our arrival in the brake, Eldret promised me, if I worked well, I might go up to visit my friends at Ford's in four weeks. On Saturday night of the fifth week, I reminded him of his promise, when he told me I had done so well, that I might go. I had set my heart upon it, and Eldret's announcement thrilled me with pleasure. I was to return in time to com- mence the labors of the day on Tuesday morning.

While indulging the pleasant anticipation of so soon meeting my old friends again, suddenly the hateful form of Tibeats appeared among us. He inquired how Myers and Piatt got along together, and was told, very well, and that Piatt was going up to Ford's plantation in the morning on a visit.

" Poh, poh ! " sneered Tibeats ; " it isn't worth while — the nigger will get unsteady. He can't go."

TREATMENT OF TIBEATS. 157

But Eldret insisted- 1 had worked faithfully — that he had given me his promise, and that, under the cir- cumstances, I ought not to be disappointed. They then, it being about dark, entered one cabin and I the other. I could not give up the idea of going ; it was a sore disappointment. Before morning I resolved, if Eldret made no objection, to leave at all hazards. At daylight I was at his door, with my blanket rolled up into a bundle, and hanging on a stick over my shoulder, waiting for a pass. Tibeats came out pre- sently in one of his disagreeable moods, washed his face, and going to a stump near by, sat down upon it, apparently busily thinking with himself. After stand- ing there a long time, impelled by a sudden impulse of impatience, I started off.

" Are you going without a pass ? " he cried out to me.

" Yes, master, I thought I would," I answered.

" How do you think you'll get there ? " demanded he.

" Don't know," was all the reply I made him.

" You'd be taken and sent to jail, where you ought to be, before you got half-way there," he added, pass- ing into the cabin as he said it. He came out soon with the pass in his hand, and calling me a " d — d nig- ger that deserved a hundred lashes," threw it on the ground. I picked it up, and hurried away right speedily.

A slave caught off his master's plantation without a pass, may be seized and whipped by any white man

158 TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE.

whom he meets. The one I now received was dated, and read as follows :

" Piatt has permission to go to Ford's plantation, on Bayou Boeuf, and return by Tuesday morning.

John M. Tibeats."

This is the usual form. On the way, a great many demanded it, read it, and passed on. Those having the air and appearance of gentlemen, whose dress indicated the possession of wealth, frequently took no notice of me whatever ; but a shabby fellow, an un- mistakable loafer, never failed to hail me, and to scrutinize and examine me in the most thorough man- ner. Catching runaways is sometimes a money-mak- ing business. If, after advertising, no owner appears, they may be sold to the highest bidder ; and certain fees are allowed the finder for his services, at all events, even if reclaimed. "A mean white," there- fore, — a name applied to the species loafer — con- siders it a god-send to meet an unknown negro with- out a pass.

There are no inns along the highways in that por- tion of the State where I sojourned. I was wholly destitute of money, neither did I carry any provisions, on my journey from the Big Cane to Bayou Boenf ; nevertheless, with his pass in his hand, a slave need never suffer from hunger or from thirst. It is only necessary to present it to the master or overseer of a plantation, and state his wants, when he will be sent round to the kitchen and provided with food or shel- ter, as the case may require. The traveler stops at

TISIT TO BAYOU BCEUF. 159

any house and calls for a meal with as much freedom as if it was a public tavern. It is the general custom of the country. Whatever their faults may be, it is certain the inhabitants along Red River, and around the bayous in the interior of Louisiana are not want- ing in hospitality. ■

I arrived at Ford's plantation towards the close of the afternoon, passing the evening in Eliza's cabin, with Lawson, Rachel, and others of my acquaintance. "When we left Washington Eliza's form was round and plump. She stood erect, and in her silks and jewels, presented a picture of graceful strength and elegance. Now she was but a thin shadow of her former self. Her face had become ghastly haggard, and the once straight and active form was bowed down, as if bear- ino- the weight of a hundred years. Crouching on her cabin floor, and clad in the coarse garments of a slave, old Elisha Berry would not have recognized the moth- er of his child. I never saw her afterwards. Having become useless in the cotton-field, she was bartered for a trifle, to some man residing in the vicinity of Peter Compton's. Grief had gnawed remorselessly at her heart, until her strength was gone ; and for that, her last master, it is said, lashed and abused her most unmercifully. But he could not whip back the de- parted vigor of her youth, nor straighten up that bend- ed body to its full height, such as it was when her children were around her, and the light of freedom was shining on her path.

I learned the particulars relative to her departure

160 TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE.

from this world, from some of Compton's slaves, who had come over Red River to the bayou, to assist young Madam Tanner during the " busy season." She became at length, they said, utterly helpless, for several weeks lying on the ground floor in a dilapida- ted cabin, dependent upon the mercy of her fellow- thralls for an occasional drop of water, and a morsel of food. Her master did not " knock her on the head," as is sometimes done to put a suffering animal out of misery, but left her unprovided for, and unpro- tected, to linger through a life of pain and wretched- ness to its natural close. When the hands returned from the field one night they found her dead ! Du- ring the day, the Angel of the Lord, who moveth in- visibly over all the earth, gathering in his harvest of departing souls, had silently entered the cabin of the dying woman, and taken her from thence. She was free at last !

Next day, rolling up my blanket, I started on my return to the Big Cane. After traveling five miles, at a place called Huff Power, the ever-present Tibe- ats met me in the road. He inquired why I was go- ing back so soon, and when informed I was anxious to return by the time I was directed, he said I need go no farther than the next plantation, as he had that day sold me to Edwin Epps. We walked clown into the yard, where we met the latter gentleman, who ex- amined me, and asked me the usual questions pro- pounded by purchasers. Having been duly delivered over, I was ordered to the quarters, and at the same

SALE TO EDWIN EPPS. 161

time directed to make a hoe and axe handle for my- self.

I was now no longer the property of Tibeats — his dog, his brute, dreading his wrath and cruelty day and night ; and whoever or whatever my new master might prove to be, I could not, certainly, regret the change. So it was good news when the sale was an- nounced, and with a sigh of relief I sat down for the first time in my new abode.

Tibeats soon after disappeared from that section of

the country. Once afterwards, and only once, I

caught a glimpse of him. It was many miles from

Bayou Bceuf. He was seated in the doorway of a

low groggery. I was passing, in a drove of slaves,

through St. Mary's parish.