YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

JAMES L SMITE

INCLUDING, ALSO,
REMINLSCENCES OF SLAVE LIFE, RECOLLECTIONS
OF THE WAR, EDUCATION OF FREEDMEN,
CAU.SES OF THE EXODUS, Etc.

SECOND EDITION.

NORWICH :
TRESS OF THH BULLETIN COMPANV.
1882.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881,
By JAMES L. SMITH,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

Chl-J.-J^h

^•fr-r.

YALE

TO THE MEMORY OF
MY FATHER,
CHARLES PAYNE,
WHO LIES -IN A NAMELESS,
UNKNOWN GRAVE,
THIS VOLUME
IS DEDICATED.

PREFACE

The writer would bring before the public the narrative of his
life while in bondage, which is substantially trug in all its details.
The painful wrongs inflicted then and now have caused the writer,
though many years have passed, to take up the publication of this
narrative of himself. There are many incidents and characters
described in this narrative personally known to the writer, which
make him anxious to put forth some effort, however humble it may
be, to ameliorate the condition of his now suffering people, in or
der that the facts may confirm the truthful saying : " My people
will be styled a nation yet, and also claim their nationality." For
this they have fought and suffered hundreds of years in servitude
and bondage. It is a fact which ought to thrill the heart of every
American citizen to see the interest they take in learning ; the un
tiring exertions they make to overcome every obstacle, even death
itself, to acquire it. It is what God has promised : " To be a God
to the faithful and to their seed after them."
The writer hopes not to weary your patience in reviewing his
narrative, which is fraught with so many exciting scenes. It is the
duty of men to occupy places of power and trust, therefore our
rulers, above all others, ought to be holy and devoted men. There
are, however, some found in every age of the world who believe
in freedom of thought and speech ; and many who are untiring in
their efforts to secure the future well-being of those intrusted to
their care ; it affords the most povyerful argument to influence the

vi. PREFACE.
minds of some. It is believed that no one who reads attentively
and reflects seriously, will doubt that the lime is near at hand
which is spoken of by God : " Ye shall let ray people go free."
Now the great revolution seems to me to have come ; now is the
time for us to act in trying to save that which was lost : in stimu
lating them to education ; and in building homes and school-
houses for their children, that they may become honorable and re
spectable citizens of the Slates to which they have acceded. We
want earnest laborers amongst us, for those who are instructing my
people are few and far between ; and we have been deprived of
education by the hand of slavery and servitude, which has been
brought upon us by the slave-holder. I feel it is the duty of the
people to take up our cause, and instruct wherever they can.
Our ignorance, which is often spoken of, and for which we are
not to blame, is caused by this ill, slavery ; and the whipping post
was resorted to if any attempt was made to learn the alphabet. I
can say, in the fullness of my heart, that there is no darkness equal
to this, not even the Egyptian darkness which is spoken of by mis
sionaries now laboring in foreign lands. I only pray to hope on,
and on, that God may appear in our behalf, and let the sun of
civilization and education be extended among my people until it
shall reach from sea to sea, and from land to land. Then shall
Ethiopia stretch forth her hand unto God and call you blessed.
I thank God for what I have seen and experienced so far in regard
to the amelioration of our condition as a people. I hardly expect
to see the completion of the act of liberty which was commenced
by ourrnost earnest friend, Senator Sumner. " See to the Civil
Rights Bill ; do n't let it fail," were among his last words to his
associate, who stood beside the dyingsenator.
This volume speaks of our earnest desire for more liberty and
rights as a free people, and that our children may enjoy that of
which we have been deprived. Never was the effectiveness of our
Christian instrumentalities in other lands mote dependent than
now upon the vigorous and progressive development of Christian
principles at home.
As we are entering upon a new decade our thoughts go back to
1861 ; and what a period is this to review ! Could we have held

PREFACE. Vll.
the glass to our vision and seen what the nation would accomplish
ill its terrible struggle for exintence, who would not have shrunk
from the almost miraculous undertaking? But God had the blank
years before Him, and as they passed, He proceeded to fill out the'
record. Nineteen years ago we were rocking in the swell of the
gathering storm which was so soon and unexpectedly to break in
its fury, and who could tell how many were lo perish and go down
ere its fury should be spent ? In the strike which slavery made for
the ascendency, how liltle did we know through what terrible re
vulsions it would pass on its way to destruction. The cry was,
"slavery must go down." How many mighty obstacles must fall
before the march of the avalanche. How many disputed the ques
tion at the time, as to how this should be accomplished. But liike
the great iceberg when soft winds blow, and gentle rays fall on it,
whether God would prostrate it as he does great cities when earth
quakes rock them, was the question to be considered. Such was
our uncertainty then ; but these counsels were made known to us
more speedily than we dreamed.
We have seen how the system of slavery was to be destroyed ;
and there is work for the Christian Church, there are responsibili
ties on Christian hearts which we did not anticipate nineteen years
ago. National politics have brought about many incidental ques
tions ; but there is a period of new and aggressive work in which
we are led to go forward and possess the land. Such a burden of
duty as it bears upon us at this time, to remember that we are
hourly approaching opportunities and responsibilities greater than
we have hitherto known. In this spirit we have labored for the
grand conquests which to-day are calling us onward. In this
spirit we must toil now. How much we ask, bringing to you
our pressing wants — come over and help us, for my people are in
need of instruction, both spiritual and educational ; and in thus
aiding us you will accomplish a work of far reaching power, of
which you have now no comprehension. " If God be for us, who
can be against us ?"
May this narrative awaken some to still greater earnestness in
working for Christ, and freedom through the land. " Be not weary
in well doing, for in due season ye .shall reap if ye faint not." It

Vlll. PREFACE.
is my privilege to speak about the impoverished people of the
South, and those main pillars of our Republic, the Church and
the School ; thus following up the victories of our arms with the
sublimer victories of Christian love. What tremendous agencies
God has employed within these few years, and what He has caused
to be exerted for all generations to come ; and if there is one
scripture which is more forcibly illustrated and impressed upon rae
than any other, it is this : " Whereas ye know not what shall be on
the morrow.'' Who could have foreseen how much God would
bring to pass in these nineteen years ? Could the author have held
the glass to his vision, and seen what the nation would accomplish
in its terrible struggle for existence, he would have despaired ; but
as the period has arrived, my people are determined to go forward
and possess the land which will bring our children within the pale
of intellectual training in the institutions of education and religion ;
for we all know that without this education we must expect to
be defrauded of our homes, our earnings, and our lands. Many
only make their mark in signing their names, for they can not read
or write.
This is the secret of their not having any thing to-day, and the
responsibility rests on you, Christian people of these United States
of America ; and the ciy is for help now. There is not a nation
under heaven that needs more sympathy and pity from the people
of the United States than my people ; for they are maltreated
every way in the higher educational schools, while endeavoring to
obtain an education.
During the most eventful period in our history, the little stream
of light that began to flow in Virginia and the Mississippi Volley
has from year to year widened and deepened, and rolled with
mighty healing power. It has jiassed the dividing mountains, and
carried a flood of Divine blessings to many of my people. " But
blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear :
for verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men
have desired to see these things which ye see, and have not seen
them, and to hear these things which ye hear, and have not heard
them." We still have hope of saving our beloved people, and of
seeing prosperity in the future. Many of the colored people de-

PREFACE. IX.
serve much of this country for what they did and suffered in the
great national struggle. When the Rebels appeared in their
strength, and defeat followed defeat in quick succession, while the
government was bleeding at every pore, and there appeared to be
no help or power to save the Union, then our colored soldiers came
to its timely aid and fought like brave men. The rebel lion struck
at the very heart of our country. Many of them were ill-treated
by the Union soldiers — many a colored soldier was knocked down
by them, and maltreated in every way. The treatment the colored
soldiers received from the hands of the white soldiers was equal
to slavery. All this was because the white soldiers did not want
to stand side by side with them — did not want the negro in the
ranks. Pen can not begin to describe the extreme sufferings of the
colored men in this respect. The Yankee soldiers were eager for
glory ; the idea of having a colored man in the ranks caused many
of them to be angry. " I will never die by the side of a nigger,"
was uttered from the lips of many.
I hope this work may find its way into the homes and hearts
of those who .ire endeavoring still to help us in our efforts for
liberty ; if I succeed in this, it is all I desire. That I may have
the prayers of all who are interested in my behalf, is the earnest
desire of the writer.
In purchasing lliis narrative you will be assisting one who has
been held in the chattels of slavery ; who is now broken down by
the infirmities of age, and asks yqur help to aid him in this, his
means of support in his declining years.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.
BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD.

Pace.

Birthplace — Parentage — Accident from disobedience — Sick
ness — Crippled for life — Death of master, and change of
situation — Cecilia — Jealousy, and attempt to take the life
of my father by poisoning — Discovery and punishment —
Removal to Northern Neck — Mode of living in old Vir
ginia — Experiences of slave life — A cruel mistress — Work
on plantation — Feigning sickness — Death of father and
mother — Bound out to a trade — A brutal master, I
CH.^PTER II. k
YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD.
Cook on board a ship — A heartless master — An unsavor)'
breakfast, and punishment — A difficult voyage — Tired of
life, and attempt at suicide — Escape — Life on plantation
— A successful ruse — Removal to Heathsville, - • - i6
CHAPTER III.
LIFE IN HEATHSVILLE.
Hired out — Religious experience, conversion — Work as an
exhorter — A slave prayer meeting — Over worked — A ludi
crous accident — Love of dress — Love of freedom — Death
of my master — Religious exercises forbidden — A stealthy
meeting — The surprise — Fairfield Church — Quarterly meet
ing — Nancy Merrill — A religious meeting and a deliver
ance — Sleeping at my post, ... 25

Xll. CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.
ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY.
P.4GE.
Change of master — Plans of escape — Fortune telling — Zip
— A lucky man — Farewell — Beginning of the escape — A
prosperous sail — Arrival at Frenchtown — Continuing on
foot — Exhausted — Deserted by companions — Hesitating —
Terrible fright — A bold resolve and a hearty breakfast —
Re-union at New Castle — Passage to Philadelphia — A final
farewell — Trouble and anxiety — A friend — Passage to New
York, Hartford and Springfield — A warm welcome — Dr.
Osgood, - 36
CHAPTER V.
LIFE IN FREEDOM.
Employment in a shoe shop — Education at Wilbraham —
Licensed to preach — John M. Brown — Mrs. Cecelia Platt
— Elizabeth Osgood — Sabbath and Mission Schools — Re
turn to Springfield — Engagement with Dr. Hudson — Expe
rience at Saybrook — Persecutions of Abolitionists — Lectur
ing — Courtship and marriage, 56
CHAPTER VI.
LIFE IN NORWICH, CONN.
Came to Norwich— Started business — Purchase a house —
Persecutions and difficulties— Ministerial labors — Church
troubles — Formation of a new Methodist Church — Retir
ing from ministerial work— Amos B. Herring — Mary Hum
phreys — Sketches of life and customs in Africa. 68
CHAPTER VII,
THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.
Desire to return to Virginia— Opening of the War — Disdain
of the aid of colored men — Defeat — Progress of the War
— Employing colored men — Emancipation Proclamation —
Celebration— Patriotism of Colored Soldiers — Bravery at
Port Hudson— Close of the War— Death of Lincoln— A
tribute to Senator Sumner— Passage of the Civil Rights
Bill — Our Standard Bearers, ^^

CONTENTS. XIU.
CHAPTER VIII.
AFTER THE WAR. Page.
Fear of capture — A visit to Heathsville-^Father Christmas,
and a children's festival — Preaching .it Washington — My
first visit to my old home — Joy and rejoicing — Meeting my
old mistress — My old cabin home — The old spring — Change
of situation — The old doctor — Improvement in the con
dition of the colored people — Buying homes — Industry, go
CHAPTER IX.
CONCLUSION.
The Fifteenth Amendment Celebration — The parade— Ad
dress — Collation — Charles L. Remond — Closing words, - 106
CHAPTER X.
COLORED MEN DURING THE WAR.
In battle — Kindness to Union men — Devotion to the Union
— 2gth Conn. — Its departure — Return — The noble Kansas
troops — 54th Mass. — Obedience to orders, 113
CHAPTER XI.
RECOLLECTIONS OF THE WAR.
The spirit of the South — Delaware — Kentucky — Meetings —
Conventions — Gen. Wild's raid — Slave heroism — A reminis
cence of 1863 —Sherman's march through Georgia — Arming
the slave, - - - - 127
CHAPTER XII.
THE EXODUS.
Arrival of negroes in Washington — Hospitality of Washing
ton people — Suffering and privation — Education of the
freedmen- — Causes of emigration — Cruelty at the South —
Prejudice at the North — Hopes for the future, . 140

•ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page.
James L. Smith, - Frontispiece
" I Made a Desperate Effort," 44
My Old Cauin Home, q8

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

OF

JAMES L. SMITH.

CHAPTER I.

BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD.
Birthplace — Parentage — Accident from disobedience — Sickness —
Crippled for life — Death of master, and change of situation —
Cecilia — Jealousy, and attempt to take the life of my father
by poisoning— Discovery and punishment— Removal to Northern
Neck — Mode of living in old Virginia — Experiences of slave
life — A cruel mistress — Work on plantation — Feigning sickness
— Death of father and mother — Bound out to a trade — A bru
tal master.

Y birthplace was in Northern Neck, Northum
berland County, Virginia. My mother's name
was Rachel, and my father's was Charles.
Our cabin home was just across the creek. This creek
formed the head of the Wycomco River. Thomas
Langsdon, my master, lived on one side of the creek,
and my mother's family — which was very large — on
the opposite side. Every year a new comer was added
to our humble cabin home, till she gave birth to the
eleventh child. My mother had just so much cotton
to spin every day as her stint. I lived here till I was
quite a lad.

2 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
There was a man who lived near us whose name was
Haney, a coach maker by trade. He always had his
timber brought up to the creek. One day he ordered
one of his slave women to go down and bring up some
of the timber. She took with her a small lad, about
my size, to assist her. She came along by our cabin,
as it was near the place where the timber was, and asked
me to go along with her to help her. I asked mother if
I could go. She decidedly said "No!" -'\s my mother
was sick, and confined to her bed at that time, I took
this opportunity to steal away, unknown to her. We
endeavored, at first, to carry a large piece of timber —
the woman holding one end, I the other, and the boy
in the middle. Before we had gone far her foot struck
something that caused her to fall, so that it jarred my
end, causing it to drop on my knee. The boy being in
the middle, the full weight of the timber fell on his
fopt, crushing and mangling it in a most shocking
manner. After this accident, the woman and boy
started for home, carrying some smaller pieces of tim
ber with them.
After a few days of painful sickness, mortification
took place in the little boy's foot, and death claimed
him for his own. My grandmother hearing my voice
of distress came after me and brought me home. At
the time she did not think I was hurt very seriously.
My mother called me to her bedside and punished me
for disobeying her. After a day or two my knee began
to contract, to shrink. This caused my mother to feel
that there was something very serious about it, and as
soon as she was able to get around, she went to the
" great house," the home of Thos. Langsdon, and told

BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD. tJ
him that I was badly hurt, and that something must
be done for me. He asked her what was the matter.
She told him what had happened to me, and how
seriously I was hurt with the timber. After hearing
this sad news, he said he had niggers enough without
me ; I was not worth much any how, and he did not
care if I did die. He positively declared that he
should not einploy a physician for me.) As there was
no medical remedy applied to my knee, it grew worse
and worse until I could not touch my foot to the
ground without the most intense pain. There was a
doctor in the "neighborhood at this time, and mother
knowing it sent me to see him, unknowingly to my
master. He examined my knee and said, as it had
been out of joint so long it would be a difficult matter
to break it over again and then set it. He told my
mother to take me home and bathe it in cold spring
water to prevent it from ulcerating, for if it should it
would kill me.
When I was able to walk around with my lameness,
Thomas Langsdon took me across the creek to his
house to do chores. I was then quite a boy. After a
while my leg commenced sweUing, and after that ulcer
ating. It broke in seven places. I was flat on my back
for seven or eight weeks before I could raise myself
without help. I suffered everything but death itself,
and would have died if it had not been for Miss Ayers,
who was house-keeper in the "great house." She
came into the kitchen every day to dress my knee, till
I could get around. Not having any shoes, and being
exposed to the weather, I took a heavy cold which
caused my knee to ulcerate. When I was able to gel

4 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
around the father of my young master was taken sick,
and was confined to his bed for months. I, with
another boy about my size and age — six or seven years
— sat by his bedside. We took our turns alternately,
the boy so many hours and I so many, to keep the flies
off from him. After a while the old man died, then I
was relieved from fighting or contending with flies.
After this I went across the creek to help my mother,
as I was not large enough to be of any service on the
plantation. In the course of time my young master
died, also his wife, leaving two sons, Thomas and John
Langsdon. My young master chose for us (slaves) a
guardian, who hired us all out. As my mother gave
birth to so many children, it made her not very profit
able as a servant, and instead of being let out to the
highest bidder, was let out to the lowest one that would
support her for the least money. Hence my father,
though a slave, agreed to take her and the children,
and support them for so much money.
My father's master had a brother by the name of
Thad. Guttridge, who lived in Lancaster County, who
died, leaving his plantation to his brother, (my father's
master). My father was then sent to take charge of
this new plantation, and moved my mother and the
children with him into the "great house; " my mother
as mistress of the house.
This Thad. Guttridge had'a woman by the name of
Cecilia, or Celia, as she was called, whom he kept aS
house-keeper and mistress, by whom he had one child,
a beautiful girl almost white. After this new arrange
ment was made for my father to take charge of the
new plantation, this woman Celia, was turned out of

BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD. O
her position as house-keeper to a field hand, to work
on the plantation in exchange with my mother.
This was not very agreeable to Celia, so she sought
or contrived some plan to avenge herself. So one Sat
urday night Celia went off, and did not return till
Sunday night. When she did return she brought with
her some whiskey, in two bottles. She asked father if
he would like to take a dram ; and, not thinking there
would be any trouble resulting from it, he replied :
" Yes.'' Giving him the bottle, he took a drink. She
then gave the other bottle to my mother, and she took
a drink. Afterwards, Celia gave us children some out
of the same bottle that my mother drank from.
Father went to bed that night, complaining of not
feeling very well. The next morning he was worse.
and continued to grow worse until he was very low.
His master was immediately sent for, w.ho came in
great haste. |0n his arrival he found father very low,
not able to speak aloud. My master, seeing in what a
critical condition he was, sent for a white doctor, who
came, and gave father some medicine. He grew worse
every time he took the medicine. There was an old
colored doctor, who lived some ten miles off. Some one
told Bill Guttridge that he had better see him, and
perhaps he could tell what was the matter with my
father. Bill Guttridge went to see this colored doctor.
The doctor looked at his cards, and told him that
his Charles was poisoned, and even told him who did
it, and her motive for doing it. Her intention was to
get father and mother out of their place, so that she
could get back again. Little did she think that the
course she took would prove a failure. The doctor gave

6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
Guttridge a bottle of medicine, and told him to return
in haste, and give father a dose of it. He did so. I saw
him coming down the lane towards the house, at full
speed. I He jumped off his horse, took his saddle-bags
and ran into the house. He called my mother to give
him a cup, so he could pour out some of the medicine.
He then raised my father up and gave him some of it
out of the cup. After he had laid him down, and re
placed the covering over him again, he took his hick
ory cane and went out into the kitchen — Celia sat
here with her work — with an oath told her : " You have
poisoned my Charles." He had no sooner uttered
these words, than he flew at her with his cane. As he
was very much enraged, he commenced beating her
over the head and shoulders till he had worn the cane
out. After he had stopped beating her in this brutal
manner her head was swollen or puffed to such size
that it was impossible to recognize who she was ; she
did not look like the same woman. Not being satis
fied with this punishment, he told her that he intended
repeating it in the morning. In the morning, when he
went to look for her, she was gone. He stayed with
father till he was able to sit up. When he returned
home — which was about ten miles — he left word with
father that if Celia came home, to bind her and send
her down to him.
This was in the fall of the year. Some months
passed before we saw Celia again. The following
spring, while the men were cleaning up the new .land,
Celia caine to them ; they took and brought her to the
house. Father was then able to walk about the house,
but was unable to work much. He had her tied, and

BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD. 7
put behind a man on horseback and carried down to
his master, who took her and put her on board a ves
sel to be sent to Norfolk. He sold her to some one
there. This was the last time we ever saw, or heard
from her.
We lived here quite a number of years on Lancas
ter plantation. Finally my father's master sold it, and
also his brother's daughter, Cella's child. We then
returned from Lancaster plantation to Northern Neck,
Va., and lived nearly in the same place, called Hog
Point ; we lived here quite a number of years. Mr,
Dick Mitchell, my master's guardian took me away
from my mother to Lancaster County, on his planta
tion, where I lived about six months. I used to do
chores about the house, and card rolls for the women.
Being lame unfitted me for a field hand, so I had to do
work about the house, to help the women.
Our dress was made of tow cloth ; for the children,
nothing was furnished them but a shirt ; for the older
ones, a pair of pantaloons or a gown, in addition, ac
cording to the sex. Besides these, in the winter sea
son an overcoat, or a round jacket ; a wool hat once
in two or three years for the men, and a pair of coarse
brogan shoes once a year. We dwelt in log cabins, and
on the bare ground. Wooden floors were an unknown
luxury to the slave. There were neither furniture nor
bedsteads of any description ; our beds were collec
tions of straw and old rags, thrown down in the cor
ners ; some were boxed in with boards, while others
were old ticks filled with straw. All ideas of decency
and refinement were, of course, out of the question.
Our mode of living in Virginia was not unlike all

8 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
other slave states. At night, each slept rolled up in a
coarse blanket ; one partition, which was an old quilt
or blanket, or something else that answered the pur
pose, was extended across the hut ; wood partitions
were unknown to the doomed slave. A water pail, a
boiling pot, and a few gourds made up the furniture.
When the corn had been ground in a hand-mill, and
then boiled, the pot was swung from the fire and the
children squatted around it, with oyster shells for
spoons. Sweet potatoes, oysters and crabs varied the
diet. Early in the morning the mothers went off to
the fields in companies, while some women too old to
do any thing but wield a stick were left in charge of
the strangely silent and quiet babies. The field hands
having no time to prepare any thing for their morning
meals took up hastily a piece of hoe-cake and bacon,
or any thing that was near at haud, and then, with
rakes or hoes in the hand, hurried off to the fields at
early dawn, for the loud horn called them to their
labors. Heavy were their hearts as they daily travers
ed the long cotton rows. The overseer's whip took no
note of aching hearts.
The allowance for the slave men for the week was a
peck-and-a-half of corn meal, and two pounds of
bacon. The women's allowance was a peck of meal
and from one pound-and-a-half to two pounds of
bacon ; and so much for each child, varying from one-
half to a peck a week, and of bacon, from one-half to
a pound a ¦ week. In order to make our allowance
hold out, we went crabbing or fishing. In the winter
season we used to go hunting nights, catching oysters,
coons and possums. When I was home the slaves

BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD. !>
used to bake their hoe-cakes on hoes — these hoes were
larger than those used in the northern states. Another
way for cooking them was to rake the ashes and then
put the meal cake between the ashes and the fire — this
was called ash pone ; and still another way was to
bake the bare cake in a Dutch oven, heated for the
purpose — that was called oven pone. This latter way
of baking them was much practiced, or customary at
the home of the slave-holders.
The " great house," so called by the plantation
hands, was the home where the master and his family
lived. The kitchen was an apartment by itself in the
yard, a little distance from the " great house," so as to
face the front part of the house ; others were built in
the back yard. The kitchens had one bed-room at
tached to them.
One night I went crabbing, and was up most all
night ; a boy accompanied me. We caught a large
mess of crabs, and took them home with us. The
next day I had to card for one of the women to spin,
and, being up all night, I could hardly keep my eyes
open ; every once in a while I would fall asleep. Mrs.
Mitchell could look through her window into the
kitchen, it being in front of the "great house." She
placed herself in the portico, to see that I worked.
When I fell into a quiet slumber she would halloo out
and threaten to cowhide me ; but, for all that I could
not keep awake. Seeing that I did not heed her
threatenings, she took her rawhide and sewing and
seated herself close by me, saying she would see if she
could keep me awake. She asked me what was the
matter; I told her I felt sick. (I was a great hand to

10 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
feign sickness). She asked me what kind of sickness;
I told her I had the stomach ache and could not work.
•Thinking that something did ail me, she sent Alfred,
the slave boy, into the house after her medicine chest ;
she also told him to bring her the decanter of whisky.
She then poured out a tumbler most full of whisky
and then made me drink all of it. After drinking it I
was worse than I was before, for I was so drunk I could
not see what I was doing. Every once in a while
when I fell asleep she would give me a cut with the
rawhide. At last, night came and I was relieved from
working so steady. When I was not carding I was
obliged to knit ; I disliked it very much ; I was very
slow ; it used to take me two or three weeks to knit
one stocking, and when I had finished it you could not
tell what the color was.
I had also to drive the calves for the milk-woman to
milk. One afternoon, towards night, I stopped my
other work to hunt up the calves and have them at the
cow-pen by the time the milk-woman came with the
cows ; I went in one of the quarters, and being tired, I
sat down on a bench, and before I knew it I fell asleep
and slept till after dark. The milk-woman came with
the cows, but there were no calves there. She hallooed
for me, but I was not within hearing. As the cow-pen
was not far from the ¦' great house " the mistress heard
her. At last the milk-woman came to the " great
house " to see what had become of me, but no Lindsay
could be found. She went to the kitchen where the
milk pails were kept, took them, and then drove the
calves up herself and went to milking. Before she had
finished, I awoke and started for the kitchen for the

BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD. 11
pails. When I got there, Mrs. Mitchell was standing
up in the middle of the kitchen floor. She asked me
where I had been ; I told her I fell asleep in the quar-«
ters and forgot myself. She said she would learn me
how to attend to my business ; so she told Alfred to go
into the " great house " and bring her the rawhide. I
stood there trembling about raid-way of the floor.
Taking the rawhide, and lifting her large arms as high
as she could, applied it to my back. The sharp twang
of the rawhide, as it struck my shoulders, raised me
from the floor.
Jinny, the cook, told me afterwards, that when Mrs.
Mitchell struck me I jumped about four feet, and did
not touch the floor again till I was out doors. She fol
lowed me to the door and just had time to see me turn
the corner of the " great house." I then ran down
towards the cow-pen. The cook told me the way I
was running as I turned the corner, that she did not
believe that there was a dog or horse on the plantation
that could have caught me. I went to the cow-pen
and helped the woman to finish milking, and stayed
around till I thought that Mrs. Mitchell had gone into
the " great house." But to my astonishment when I
went to the kitchen again, behold, there she was still
waiting for me. She asked me why I ran from her ; I
told her that it hurt me so bad when she struck me
that I did not know that I was running. She said the
next time she whipped me that she would have me
tied, then she guessed I would not run. She let me off
that night by promising her that I would do better,
and never run from her again.
Mrs. Mitchell was a very cruel woman ; I have seen

12 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
her whip Jinny in a very brutal manner. There was a
large shade tree that stood in the yard ; she would
'make Jinny come out under this tree, and strip her
shoulders all bare ; then she would apply the rawhide
to her bare back until she had exhausted her own
strength, and was obliged to call some of the house
servants to bring her a chair. While she was resting,
she would keep Jinny still standing. After resting her
weary arms she commenced again. Thus she whipped
and rested till she had applied fifty blows upon her
suffering back. There was not a spot upon her naked
back to lay a finger but there would be a gash, gush
ing forth the blood ; every cut of the rawhide forced
an extraordinary groan from the suffering victim ; she
then sent her back to the kitchen, with her back sore
and bleeding, to her work. We slaves often talked the
matter over amongst ourselves, and wondered why God
suffered such a cruel woman to live. One night, as we
were talking the matter over, Jinny exclaimed : " De
Lord bless me, chile, I do not believe dat dat devil will
ever die, but live to torment us."
After a while I left there for Hog Point, to live with
my mother. In the course of a year or two old Mrs.
Mitchell sickened, and died.
.\fter she died I went down to see the folks on the
plantation. After my arrival, they told me that just
before she breathed her last, she sent for Jinny to
come to her bedroom. As she entered, she looked up
and said : " Jinny, I am going to die, and I suppose
you are glad of it." Jinny replied; "No, I am not."
After pretending to cry, she came back to the kitchen
and exclaimed : " Dat old devil is going to die, and I

BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD. 13
am glad of it." When her mistress died her poor
back had a brief respite for a while. I do not know
what took place upon the plantation after this.
As my young master became of age about this time,
Mr. Mitchell gave the guardianship to him. During
this time my mother died ; then I was bound out to his
uncle, John Langsdon, to learn the shoe-maker's trade.
John Langsdon was a very kind man, and struck me
but once the whole time I was with him in Fairfield,
and then it was my own fault. One day, while I was
at work in the shop, I put my work down and went
out; while I was out, I stepped into the " great house."
His two sons were in the house shelling corn ; some
wo.rds passed between his eldest son and me, which
resulted in a fight. Mr. Langsdon was looking out of
the shop window and saw us fighting; so he caught up
a stick and struck me three or four times, and then
drove me off to the shop to my work. I took hold of
shoe-making very readily ; I had not been there a great
while when I could make a shoe, or a boot — this I
acquired by untiring industry. He used to give me
my stint, a pair of shoes a day. I remained with him
four years.
The first cruel act of my master, as soon as he be
came of age, and took his slaves home, was to sell one
of my mother's children, whose name was Celia, who
was carried off by a trader. We never saw,or heard
from her again. Oh ! how it rent my mother's heart;
although her heart was almost broken by grief and de
spair, she bore this shock in silent but bitter agony.
Her countenance exhibited an anxious and sorrowful
expression, and her manner gave evidence of a deep

14 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
settled melancholy. This, and other troubles which
she was compelled to pass through, and constant toil
and exposure so shattered her physical frame that dis
ease soon preyed upon her, and hastened her to the
grave. Ah ! I saw not the death-angel, as with white
wings he approached. When the hour came for her
departure from earth there was but a slight struggle,
a faint gasp, and the freed spirit went to its final home.
Gone where there are neither bonds nor tortures, sor
row and weeping are unknown.
My mother was buried in a field where there was no
other dead deposited ; no stone marks her resting
place ; no fragrant flowers adorn the sod that covers
her silent house.
My father soon followed my mother to the grave ;
then we children were left fatherless and motherless in
the cold world. My father's death was very much felt,
as a good servant, being quick and energetic, rendered
him a favorite with his master. When my father was
about to die he called his children, those who were at
home, around him, as no medicine could now retard
the steady approach of the death -angel. When we
assembled about him he bade us all farewell, saying,
there was but one thing that troubled him, and that
was, not one of us professed religion. When I heard
that, and saw his sunken eye and hollow cheek, my
heart sank within me. Oh ! how those words did cut
me like a two-edged sword. From that day I com
menced to seek the Lord with all my heart, and never
stopped till I found Him. After my father's death my
eldest sister took charge of the younger children, until
her master took her home

BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD. 15
One cold morning, while I lived at Hog Point, we
looked out and saw three men coming towards the
house. One was Mr. Haney, the other one was one of
his neighbors, and the last one was his slave. Near
our cabin home was a large oak tree ; they took this
doomed slave down to this tree, and stripped him en
tirely naked ; then they threw a rope across a limb
and tied him by his wrists, and drew him up so that
his feet cleared the ground. They then applied the
lash to his bare back till the blood streamed and red
dened the ground underneath where he hung. After
whipping him to their satisfaction, they took him
down, and led him bound through our yard. I looked
at him as he passed, and saw the great ridges in his
back as the blood was pouring out of them, and it was
as a dagger to my heart. They took him and forced
him to work, with his back sore and bleeding. He
came to our cabin a night or two afterwards. My
mother asked him what Mr. Haney beat him for. He
said it was for nothing only because he did not work
enough for him ; he did all he could, but the unrea
sonable master demanded more. I never saw him any
more, for shortly after this we moved away.

-«"^

16 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.

CHAPTER IL

YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD.
Cook on board a ship — A heartless master — An unsavory break
fast, and punishment — A difficult voyage — Tired of life, and
attempt at suicide — Escape — Life on plantation — A successful
ruse — Removal to Heathsville.
HEI^f I lived at Mrs. Mitchell's there was a
man who owned a vessel, who came there
and took our grain. He told Mr. Mitchell
he would like to take rae and make a sailor of me.
He liked the looks of ray countenance very much, so
they struck a bargain. The captain took me on board
his vessel and made a cook of me. I stayed wilh him
about two years, and most of the time he treated me
very cruelly. He used to strip and whip rae with the
cat-o'-nine-tails. [This cat-o'nine-tails was a rope
having nine long ends and at each end a hard knot.]
One day as we lay at the dock in Richmond, Va.,
he rose very early one morning and told me that he
was going up town, advising me to have breakfast
ready by the time he arrived. The weather was very
cold. As it stormed that morning very hard, I asked
him if I could cook down in the cabin. His reply
was " No ;" and that I must cook in the caboose.

YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. 17
[This caboose was a large black kettle set on the deck,
all open to the weather, to make fire in, and supported
by bricks to prevent it burning the deck.] Seeing I
had to be reconciled to my situation, I made my fire
the best I could. The rain and wind extinguished the
fire, so that I could not fry the fish ; hence I could
not turn them, for they cleaved to the fiying pan ; so
I thought I would stir them up in a mess and make
poached fish of them ; I then poured them out into a
dish, and placed them on the table.
Very soon the captain came aboard drunk, and
asked me if breakfast was ready ; I told him : "Yes."
When he went down into the cabin and sat at the
table, I crept off and peeped through the cabin win
dow, to see what effect the breakfast would have upon
him. While he sat there, I beheld that he looked at
the poached fish with a great deal of dissatisfaction
and disgust. He called me " doctor," and commanded
me to come down into the cabin. I replied promptly.
When I got there, he pointed to the fish, and asked rae
if I could tell which parts of those fish belonged to
each other; I told him I could not tell. As the cook
ing devolved on me that morning, I tried to justify my
self by telling him that the rain and wind cooled my
pan so that I could not fry the fish, and that I had
done the best I could.
."Vfter hearing this, he told me to strip myself, and
then go and stand on deck till he had eaten his break
fast. I suffered intensely with the cold. Some of the
people on the dock laughed at me, while others pitied
me. There I was, divested of my clothing ! He
turned his fiery eyes on me when he came on deck ;
2

18 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
and, with a look of fierce decision on his face, (for now
all the fierceness of his nature was aroused), he took a
rope's end and applied it vigorously to my naked back
until he deemed that I had atoned for my offence.
The blows fell hard and fast, raising the skin at every
stroke ; by the time he was through whipping me I
was warm enough. I then went down into the cabin
to remove the breakfast things. I did not eat any thing,
for I had lost all appetite for food. In the course of
the day we got under way, and started for home.
We then proceeded down the James River, and
thence to a place called Carter's Creek. Here we took
in a haul of oysters, and then started for Alexandria.
The wind headed us off for several days, and the
weather was very cold. At last the wind favored us,
enabling us to continue our voyage till we arrived at
Chesapeake Bay; just at this time the wind came in
contact with our vessel and .headed us off again. It
was now in the stillness of the night (mid-ni.ght) when
the mate in the cabin was far under the influence of
liquor ; he was so beastly drunk that he could not get
out to give any assistance whatever. Hence I had to
manage the sails the best I could, while the captain
stood at the helm. We strove all night endeavoring to
get up the bay. About two o'clock in the morning the
captain told me to bring up the jug of whisky to him
Just at this time the vessel sprung a leak. I did all I
could to stop the leakage ; the captain told me to go
to the pump and do the best I could till morning.
Both of us tried to get the mate out, but did not suc
ceed. We then turned the vessel around and put back,
reaching about day the place from whence we first

YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. 19
Started. By this time the mate was nearly over his
drunken spell and was somewhat niore sober, seeing
what peril we were in, went with us to the pump to
free the vessel. On account of the cold weather, we
lay in Carter's Creek several days ; our oysters spoiled
and we were obliged to throw them overboard. We
then took in a freight of merchandise and started for
Fredericksburg ; here we discharged our freight and
returned ; going down the Rappahannock we stopped
to take in a freight of corn for Fredericksburg. One
morning the captain and mate went ashore after a load
of corn, leaving me on board to get breakfast and to
have it ready by the time he returned. I had it ready
as he requested. When they had nearly finished their
meal the captain asked rae for raore tea; I told hira it
was all out ; he wanted to know why I did not make
more tea ; I told him I thought there was a plenty, it
was as much as I generally made. He challenged rae
for daring to think ; he told rae to go forward and di
vest myself of every article of clothing, and wait till he
came. When he did come he put my head between
his legs, and while I was in that position I thought my
last days had come ; I thought while he was using the
cat-o'-nine-tails to my naked back, and hearing the
whizzing of the rope, that if ever 1 got away I would
throw myself overboard and put an end to ray life.
The captain had punished me so much that I was tired
of life, for it became a burden to me.
The cat-o'-nine-tails had no rest, for so dearly did
he love its music that a day seldom passed in which
he could find no occasion for its use. On the impulse
of the moment, I gave a sudden spring, and struck

20 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
the water some distance from the vessel, and as I
could not swim I began to sink. I found that unless
I was helped soon I would drown. I began to repent
of what I had done, and wished that I had not com-
raitted such a rash act. When I attempted to bring
myself up to the surface of the water with success, I
looked towards the vessel to see if the captain was
coming to help me, and at this moment of my peril, in
stead of rendering any assistance he sat perfectly at
ease, or composed on the deck looking at me, but mak
ing no effort to help me. I said to myself, " I wonder
if that old devil intends to let me drown, and not try
to save me." All that I could do I was not able to keep
myself on the surface of the water. Before I was out
of reach and began to sink for the last time, I felt some
thing grasp rae ; I found that it was the captain, who
finally consented to draw rae up to the surface of the
water, and throw rae in the boat. I was so exhausted
that I could neither stand up or sit down, but was
obliged to lay on the bottom of the boat. While I was
lying down he comraenced beating me with the cat-o'
nine-tails very unmercifully ; the more he beat me, the
more the water poured out of my mouth. The mate
told me afterwards that the water flowing out of my
mouth reminded him of a whale spouting water.
We then pursued our course to Fredericksburg ;
when reaching there we discharged our merchandise —
the vessel made water very fast, so we returned to Car
ter's Creek to undergo repairs. Here it lay for a num
ber of days, for the ship-carpenters were not ready to
take care of her ; hence I had to slay by the vessel
while the captain and mate went home. After I had

YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. 21
been there a few weeks I sought an opportunity to run
away. I saw a vessel one day going to my former
home, Mr. Dick. Mitchell's. I got on board this vessel
for home, having been gone for two years. I remained
at this home about a year and did chores about the
house while I did stay, and during the cotton season I
had just so much cotton to pick out during the day.
Pne spring Mr. Mitchell put me in the field to at
tend to the crows, to prevent them pulling up the corn.
This was three or four years before Mrs. Mitchell's
death. This exercise did very well during the week
days, but when the Sabbath day came I desired a res
pite from this monotonous work. The Sabbath day
was a lonesome dav to me, because the field hands
were away that day ; the boys would be away frolick
ing at some place they had chosen. || I resolved that I
would break up, or put an end to my Sunday employ
ment; so I studied a plan, while I sat down in the field
one Sabbath, how I should accomplish it. First, I
thought I would feign sickness ; then I said to myself,
that will not do, for they will give me something that
will physic me to death. My next contrivance was
that I would pretend that I had the stomach ache ;
then, I said again, that will not do either, for then my
mistress will make me drunk with whisky, as she had
done before by her repeated doses. I devised another
scheme, I thought the best of all, and that was to pre
tend that I had broken my leg again. A.s this plan
was satisfactory to my mind I arose from where I was
sitting and resumed my work. Monday morning I
returned to the field, as usual.
All at once I intentionally struck my foot against a

22 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
stone. I made out that I had broken my leg again.
When I came to the house. Jinny, the cook, saw me ;
her first exclamation was : " Why, chile, what is de
matter ? " In reply, I only gave a deep, mournful
sound, and made a dreadful time about my leg, how
it pained me, and so on. The cook, after looking pit
ifully at me, took my hand and helped me into the
kitchen. While there I gave a sad account about my
leg ; I complained of feeling faint, and desired some
thing to drink that I might feel better. She took a
blanket into the adjoining room, and invited me to lie
down on the floor. [This adjoining room was a little
bedroom attached to the kitchen]. Every effort I
made towards lying down I would groan piteously, and
whimper as though it hurt rae dreadfully. While I
was on the floor Mr. Mitchell and family were at
breakfast in the "great house."
Alfred, the servant boy, carried the news to the fam
ily that I had broken my leg. As soon as Mr. Mitch
ell heard of this, he said with an oath, that he would
tend to it when he had eaten his breakfast. It was
not long before I heard his speedy steps, as he was
coming towards me ; just this moment, I said to my
self, "this day it is either victory or death."
As he stepped into the kitchen he called out to
Jinny, the cook, " Where is that one-legged son of a
b  ? " She replied that I was in the adjoining room,
very badly hurt. He, with an awful oath, said that he
would break my other leg. When he came into the
bedroom where I was he sang out with a loud voice,
and with a dreadful oath, commanding me to rise, or
else he would take every inch of skin off from my

YOUTH AND EARLY MANHOOD. 23
back. I told him that I was so much hurt that I could
not get up. My complaints only vexed him the more,
so much so that he told Alfred to go into the house
and bring him the rawhide, and said that he would
raise me.
By the time the boy had returned, I was up on one
leg choking down the sobs now and then. Mr. Mitch
ell told me to take some corn and replant those hills I
had allowed the crows to pull up. I took the corn and
started to do my work, groaning and crying at every
step. I did not get far before he called me back and
asked me if I had eaten my breakfast ; I told him I had
not. As his passions had subsided, he told me to get
my breakfast and then go out and plant the corn. I
first went into the kitchen, and then to my room to lie
down on the floor. Jinny came to me and asked me
if I would have something to eat. I told her I was in
too much pain to eat. (Just that moment I was so
hungry that I could have eaten the flesh of a dead
horse). After Mrs. Mitchell had removed the break
fast things she came into the kitchen to see how I was,
and found me groaning at a great rate, as if in great
distress. She put her arm under my head to raise me,
for I pretended that I was in so much pain that I could
not raise myself
Mrs. Mitchell was a very tyrannical woman, but not
withstanding her many failings she occasionally mani
fested a little kindness. She rolled up my pantaloons
and commenced bathing my knee with opodeldoc (a
saponaceous camphorated liniment) that she used for
such purposes ; after which she bound it up nicely and
then laid me down again. Mr. Mitchell never came
after me any more. Mrs. Mitchell rebuked her hus"

24 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
band by telling him that he had no business to send
me out in the field among the stumps to attend to the
crows, for I was not able to be there.
I lay on the floor in my room dbout two weeks. In
the course of the afternoon Jinny came into ray room
and asked me if I would have something to eat ; I told
her I would try and eat a little something — just then I
was hungry enough to eat a peck. When she return
ed with some bacon and corn-cake, (meal cake) I did
not dare to eat much for fear that the rest of the family
would mistrust that I was not sick. At the end of two
weeks I asked one of the field hands if the crows had
stopped coming to trouble the corn, his reply was :
" Yes, it was so, for the cherries were getting ripe, and
they were eating them instead." After hearing this
joyful news I began to grow better very fast. The
first day I sat up nearly all day ; the next day I was
able to go out some. When Saturday came I could
walk quite a distance to see my mother, who lived some
ten miles off.
Being lame, I was not very profitable on the planta
tion, so I went back to live with my' mother till she
died. At this time my eldest sister kept house for my
father till the young children were old enough to be
hired out. My young master had become of age, and
had his slaves divided between himself and his brother,
each taking his half. It was at this time that my
young master took me and put me in charge, or in
trusted me to the care of his uncle, in Fairfield, to learn
the shoe-maker's trade. I served four years, during
which time my father died. After I had learned my
trade, my master took me home and opened a shop in
Heathsville, Va., placing me in it.

LIFE IN HEATHSVILLE. 25

CHAPTER in.

LIFE IN HEATHSVILLE.
Hired out — Religious experience, conversion — Work as an ex
horter — A slave pr.ayer meeting — Over worked — A ludicrous
accident — Love of dress — Love of freedom — Death of my
master — Religious exercises forbidden — A stealthy meeting —
The surprise — Fairfield Church — Quarterly meeting — Nancy
jNIenill — A religious meeting and a deliverance — Sleeping at
my post.

RAN the shop for one year, during which
time my young master became jealous of me.
He thought I was making more money for
myself than for him ; it was not so ; he was mistaken
about it. What little I did earn for myself was justly
my own. While I was away enjoying myself one
Christmas day, he took an. ox-cart with my brother, for
Heathsville. The driving devolved on my brother.
My master carried off my tools and every thing that
was in the shop; he hired me out to a man who was
considered by every one to be the worst one in Heaths
ville, whose name was Mr. Lacky, advising hira "to
keep rae very strict, for I was knowing most too much."
I lived with him three years, and managed so as to
escape the cowhide all the time I was there, saving
once. I strove by ray prudence and correctness of de-

26 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
meaner to avoid exciting his evil passions. While
learning the shoe-maker's trade, I was about eighteen
years old. At this time I became deeply interested in
ray soul's salvation ; the white people held a prayer
meeting in Fairfield one evening in a private house ; I
attended the meeting that evening, but was not permit
ted to go in the same room, but only allowed to go in
an adjoining room. While there I found peace in be-
lievin.g, and in this happy state of mind I went home
rejoicing and praising the Lord for what he had done
for me. A few Sabbaths following, I united with the
Church in Fairfield. Soon after I was converted I
commenced holding meetings among the people, and it
was not long before my fame began to spread as an ex
horter. I was very zealous, so much so that I used to
hold meetings all night, especially if there were any
concerned about their immortal soul.
I remember in one instance that having quit work
about sundown on a Saturday evening, I prepared to
go ten miles to hold a prayer meeting at Sister Gould's.
Quite a number assembled in the little cabin, and we
continued to sing and pray till daybreak, when it
broke. All went to their homes, and I got about an
hour's rest while Sister Gould was preparing breakfast.
Having partaken of the meal, she, her daughter and
myself set out to hold another meeting two miles fur
ther; this lasted till about five o'clock, when we re
turned. Then I had to walk back ten miles to my
home, making in all twenty-four miles that day. How
I ever did it, lame as I was, I cannot tell, but I was so
zealous in the work that I did not mind going any
distance to attend a prayer meeting. I actually walk-

LIFE IN HEATHSVILLE. 27
ed a greater part of the distance fast asleep ; I knew
the road pretty well. There used to be a great many
run-aways in that section, and they would hide away
in the woods and swamps, and if they found a person
alone as I was, they would spring out at them and rob
them. As this thought came into my head during my
lonely walks, thinks I, it won't do for me to go to sleep;
and I began to look about rae for sorae weapon of de
fence. I took my jack-knife from ray pocket and open
ed it; now I am ready to stab the first one that tackles
me, I said ; but try as I would, I commenced to nod,
nod, till I was fast asleep again. The long walk and
the exertion of carrying on the meeting had nearly
used me up.
The way in which we worshipped is almost inde- ,
scribable. The singing was accompanied by a certain
ecstasy of motion, clapping of hands, tossing of heads,
which would continue without cessation about half an
hour; one would lead off in a kind of recitative style,
others joining in the chorus. The old house partook
of the ecstasy; it rang with their jubilant shouts, and
shook in all its joints. It is not to be wondered at
that I fell asleep, for when I awoke I found I had lost
my knife, and the fact that I would now have to de
pend on my own muscle, kept me awake till I had
reached the neighborhood of my home. There was a
lane about half a mile from the house, on each side of
which was a ditch to drain the road, and was nearly
half full of water; as I neared this lane I fell asleep
again, as the first thing I knew I was in the ditch ; I
had walked right off into it, best clothes and all. Such
a paddling to get out you never saw. I was wide

28 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
awake enough now you may rest assured, and went
into the house sick enough ; my feet were all swollen,
and I was laid up for two or three days. My mistress
came in to see me, and said I must have medicine. I
had to bear it, and she dosed me well.
As soon as I was able, I went to work. I had a shop
all to myself. My master lived five miles away, but
would come once a week and take all the earnings ;
some weeks I would make a great deal, then I would
keep some back for myself, as I had worked for it.
In this way I saved at one time fifteen dollars ; I went
to the store, bought a piece of cloth, carried it to the
tailor and had a suit made — I had already bought a
watch, and had a chain and seal. You can imagine
how I looked the following Sunday; I was very proud
and loved to dress well, and all the young people used
to make a great time over me ; it was Brother Payne
here, and Brother Payne there ; in fact, I was nearly
everywhere. The other slaves were obliged to be on the planta
tion when the horn blew, at daybreak, but sometimes
I did not get home till twelve o'clock ; sometimes it
would be night, and I always escaped a whipping.
The first Sunday that I was arrayed in my new suit,
I was passing the court house bounds, when I saw
my master and a man named Betts standing near by.
Betts caught sight of me; says he : " Lindsay, come
here." Not knowing what he wanted, I went to hira ;
whereupon he commenced looking first at rae, then at
my master ; then at my master, then at me ; finally he
said : " Who is master ; Lindsay or you, for he dresses
better than you do.' Does he own you, or do you
own him ?"

LIFE IN HEATHSVILLE. 29
From a child I had always felt that I wanted to be
free. I could not bear the thought of belonging to
any one, and so when I ran away, my mind was made
up all in a sudden. My master came as far as Phila
delphia to look for me; and, ray brother says, when he
came back without me he became' a very demon on
the plantation, cutting and slashing, cursing and swear
ing at the slaves till there was no living with him. He
seemed to be out of his head ; and for hours would set
looking straight into the fire; when spoken to, he
would say : " I can't think what made Lindsay leave
me." One day he ordered my brother and a man named
Daniel to move the barn from where it set further out
to one side. So my brother went to work, with two
or three others, and had raised it about three or four
feet, when something gave way ; and, as they were
under the barn, they all ran out. My master seeing
this became furious. " How dare you to run ? You
shall stay under there, if you get crushed to pieces ! "
So saying, he went into the house and got the rawhide.
"Now," says he, "the first one who runs, I'll cut to
pieces." He then took his place inside the barn, and
commanded them to go on with their work, while he
looked on.
They began to turn the screw, when some timber
from above fell right across the door, corapletely block
ading it. Master was shut up in the barn, and it was
impossible for him to get out. Why he did not jump
out, when the creaking sound gave him warning, no one
can tell ; he seemed to sit back there, in a dazed sort
of a way. There was a rush to rescue him, and he

30 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
was found all mangled and bruised, with the rawhide
grasped tightly in his hand. My brother says he only
gasped once or twice after he was brought out.
When Nat. Turner's insurrection broke out, the col
ored people were forbidden to hold meetings among
themselves. Nat. Turner was one of the slaves who
had quite a large army ; he was the captain to free his
race. Notwithstanding our difficulties, we used to
steal away to some of the quarters to have our meet
ings. One Sabbath I went to a plantation about five
miles off, where a slave woman had lost a child the day
before, and as it was to be buried that day, we went to
the " great house " to get permission from the master
if we could have the funeral then. He sent back word
for us to bury the child without any funeral services.
The child was deposited in the ground, and that night
we went off nearly a mile to a lonely cabin on Griffin
Furshee's plantation, where we assembled about fifty
or seventy of us in number ; we were so happy that we
had to give vent to the feelings of our hearts, and were
making more noise than we realized. The master,
whose name was Griffin Furshee, had gone to bed, and
being awakened by the noise, took his cane and his
servant boy and came where the sound directed him.
While I was axhorting, all at once the door opened
and behold there he stood, with his white face looking
in upon us. As soon as I saw the face I stopped sud
denly, without even waiting to say amen.
The people were very much frightened; with throb-
binig hearts some of them went up the log chimney,
others broke out through the back door, while a few,
who were more self-composed, stood their ground.

LIFE IN HEATHSVILLE. 31
When the master carae in, he wanted to know what
we were doing there, and asked me if I knew that it
was against the law for niggers to hold meetings. I
expected every moment that he would fly at me with
his cane ; he did not, but only threatened to report me
to ray master. He soon left us to ourselves, and this
was the last time he disturbed us in our meetings. His
object in interrupting us was to find out whether we
were plotting some scheme to raise an insurrection
among the people. Before this, the white people held
a quarterly meeting in the Fairfield Church, commenc
ing Saturday, and continuing eight days and nights
without cessation.
The religious excitement that existed at that time
was so great that the people did not leave the church
for their meals, but had them brought to them. There
were many souls converted. The colored people at
tended every night. The white people occupied the
part next to the altar, while the colored people took
the part assigned them next to the door, where they
held a protracted meeting among themselves. Some
times while we were praying, the white people would be
singing, and when we were singing they would be pray
ing; each gave full vent to their feelings, yet there was
no discord or interruption with the two services. On
Wednesday night, the fourth day from the commence
ment of the meeting, a colored woman by the name of
Nancy Merrill, was converted, and when she experienc
ed a change of heart she shouted aloud, rejoicing in
the richness of her new found hope. Thursday night,
the next evening, the meeting still continued.
By this time the excitement was on the increase

32 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
among boih parties, and it bid fair to hold eight days
longer; but right in the midst of the excitement some
one came to the door of the church and nodded to the
sexton to come to the door ; as soon as he did go to
the door some one there told him to speak to Nancy
Merrill, the new convert, and tell her to come to the
door, for he wanted to speak to her. She went, and,
behold it was a slave trader, who had bought her dur
ing the day from her mistress 1 As soon as she went
to the door, he seized and bound her, and then took
her off to her cabin home to get her two boys he had
bought also. The sexton came back and reported to
us what had taken place.
This thrilling and shocking news sent a sharp shiver
through every heart; it went through the church like
wild-fire; it broke up the meeting entirely among both
parties ; in less than half an hour every one left the
church for home. This woman had a daughter in
Fairfield, where I learned my trade, and I hastened
home as soon as possible, to tell the girl what had
happened to her mother. She was standing by the fire
in the kitchen as I entered — she was the servant girl of
John Langsdon, the man who taught me the shoe
maker's trade. As soon as I related to her this sad
news she fell to the floor as though she had been shot
by a pistol ; and, as soon as she had recovered a little
from the shock we started for her mother's cabin home,
reaching there just in time to see her mother and her
two brothers take the vessel for Norfolk, to be sold.
This was the last time we ever saw her; we heard,
sometime afterwards, that a kind master had bought
her, and that she was doing well.

LIFE IN HEATHSVILLE. 33
Many thrilling scenes I could relate, if necessary,
that makes my blood curdle in my veins while I write.
We were treated like cattle, subject to the slave-hold
er's brutal treatment and law.
The wretched condition of the male slave is bad
enough ; but that of the woman, driven to unremitting,
unrequited toil, suffering, sick, and bearing the pecu
liar burdens of her own sex, unpitied, not assisted, as
well as the toils which belong to another, must arouse
the spirit of sympathy in every heart not dead to all
feeling. Oh ! how many heart-rending prayers I have
heard ascend up to the throne of grace for deliverance
frora*'such exhibitions of barbarity. How raany family
ties have been broken by the cruel hand of slavery.
The priceless store of pleasures, and the associations
connected with home were unknown to the doomed
slaves, for in an unlooked for hour they were sold to
be separated from father and mother, brothers and
sisters. Oh ! how many such partings have rent many
a heart, causing it to bleed as it were, and crushing
out all hope of ever seeing slavery abolished.
Sometime before I left for the north, the land of
freedom, I appointed another meeting in an off house
on a plantation not far from Heathsville, where a num
ber of us collected together to sing and pray. After I
had given out the hymn, and prayed, I coraraenced to
exhort the people. While I did so I became very
warm and zealous in the work, and perhaps made more
noise than we were aware of. The patrolers* going
along the road, about half a mile off, heard the sound
* The pntrolers were southern spies, sent out, or were wont to roam at night
to hunt up rnn-away slaves, and to investigate other matters.

84 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
and followed it to where we were holding our meeting.
They came, armed to the teeth, and surrounded the
house. The captain of the company came in, and as
soon as we saw him we fell on our knees and prayed
that God might deliver us. While we prayed he stood
there in the middle of the floor, without saying a word.
Pretty soon we saw that his knees began to tremble,
for it was too hot for him, so he turned and went out.
His comrades asked him if " he was going to make an
arrest;" he said, "No, it was too hot there for him."
They soon left, and that was the last we saw of them.
As God had delivered us in such a powerful raanner,
we took courage and held our meeting until day-break.
Another time I had a meeting appointed at a freed-
woman's house, whose name was Sister Gouldman,
about five miles in the country. I left home about
seven o'clock on Saturday evening, and arrived there
about ten. We immediately commenced the meeting '
and continued it till about daylight. After closing the
meeting we slept while Sister Gouldman was preparing
the breakfast, -\fter breakfast we went two miles fur
ther, and held another meeting till late in the afternoon,
then closed and started for home, reaching there some
time during the night. I was very much fatigued, and
ray energies were entirely exhausted, so much so that
I was not able to work the next day.
The time when I was eighteen years old, when such
a miraculous change had been wrought in my heart, I
had had two holidays, and was up all night holding
meetings, praying and singing most of the time. Not
having any sleep, I could scarcely keep my eyes open
when I went to work. While endeavoring to finish a

LIFE IN HEATHSVILLE. 35
piece of work, Mr. Lacky came and found me asleep
while I was on my bench shoe-making. He told me
that I had "been away enjoying myself for two days,
and if he should come again and find me asleep, he
would wake me up." Sure enough, he had no sooner
left the shop when I was fast asleep again. As his
shop was beneath mine, he could easily hear me when
I was at work. He came up again in his stocking-feet,
unawares, and the first thing I knew he had the raw
hide, applying it vigorously to my flesh in such a man
ner that did not feel very pleasant to me. After pun
ishing me, he asked me " if I thought I could keep
awake after this." I told hira "I thought possibly I
could," and did, through a great deal of effort till
night. I never was satisfied about that whipping. ,

36 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.

CHAPTER IV.

ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY.
Change of master — Plans of escape — Fortune telling — Zip — A
lucky man — Farewell — Beginning of the escape — A prosperous
sail — Arrival at Frenchtown — Continuing on foot — Exhausted
— Deserted by companions — Hesitating — Terrible fright — A
bold resolve and a hearty breakfast — Re-union at New Castle —
Passage to Philadelphia — A final farewell — Trouble and anx
iety — A friend — Passage to New York, Hartford and Spring
field — A warm welcome — Dr. Osgood.

EAR the end of the third year I went to my
young master and told him I did not care
about living with Mr. Lacky any longer.
He told me that I could choose for myself another
man whom I could live with. I concluded to live with
one by the name of Bailey, who did not strike me dur
ing the year, but threatened to, which made me mad.
About the end of this time I thought very strongly in
reference to freedom — liberty — the precious goal which
I almost grasped. I pursued daily ray humble duties,
waiting vvith patience till I could perceive some open
ing in the dense, dark cloud that enveloped my fate in
the hidden future. Before I lived with Bailey, I had
some thoughts of this. I became acquainted with a man
by the name of Zip, who was a sailor; I told him my

ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY. 37
object in reference to freedom. He told me that he
also was intending to make his escape and to have his
freedom. This was in the year 1836. We agreed
that whenever there was a chance we would come off
together. About Christmas, 1837, we made an arrange
ment to run away. Zip was calculating to take the
vessel that the white people had left during their ab
sence. He was left to take care of this vessel till they
returned; nevertheless he intended to use it to a good
purpose, for he took this opportunity to make his es
cape. We intended to carry off seventy, but we were
disappointed because we could not carry out our ar
rangements. It was a very cold Christmas Eve., so
much so that the river was badly frozen, not making it
favorable for us to capture her; hence we gave that
project up until the spring of 1838.
On the 6th day of May, 1838, Zip, with another
one by the name of Lorenzo and myself, each hired
a horse to take a short journey up the country to
Lancaster, to see a sick friend of ours, who was
very ill, for we did not expect to see him again.
His name was Lewis Vollin. We had calculated
to make our escape in about two weeks ; so we start
ed one Sabbath morning and found our friend quite
sick, and was only able to sit up a little while and
talk with us. Lewis' doctor was ;in aged colored
man, who was a fortune-teller also, and could unfold
the past, present, and future destiny of any one.
Our sick friend was at this doctor's home, for the pur
pose of being cured by him. While there, the doctor
asked us to walk out and look at his place ; we did so,
and after a while vve sat down under a large tree. The

38 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
doctor then asked us if we would like to have our for
tunes told. We told him "Yes." He sent to the house
for his cards, and after receiving them, told each of us
to cut them ; we did so, then he took my cut and look
ed it over, saying ; " you are going to run away ; I see
that you will have good luck ; you will go clear ; you
will reach the free country in safely ; you will gather
many friends around you, both white and colored ;
you will be worth property, and in the course of time
will return back home, and walk over your native land."
I asked him " how that could be ; was I to be captured
and brought back ?" He said " no, you will come back
because you wish to, and go away again." I told
him " that was something that I did not understand."
He said " nevertheless, it is so."
He then told the fortunes of my two companions.
Zip and Lorenzo. He examined their cuts, and said
they would all go clear; but never said they would re
turn, neither did they, for they died before freedom
was proclaimed. Zip died at the West Indies, Lorenzo
died on the ship in some port at the time the cholera
broke out.
In the afternoon we started for home, reaching there
about four o'clock. When we reached Heathsville,
the place where we lived, we noticed as we rode up to
the stable to put the horses away, (for we were on
horse-back) that there were half a dozen or more
young men, who appeared to be talking and whittling
behind the stable. The stable where I put my horse
was on one side of the street, and the stable where Zip
was to put his was on the opposite side. Zip went up
to the door to put his horse in, but found that it would

ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY. 39
not open readily, and while he was trying to open it
those white young men whom we saw whittling, sup
posing that he had got in, began to assemble around
the door. Now among these young men was a negro-
trader who spoke to Zip, asking him "'why he did not
go in and put the horse away." Zip told him that "he
could not get the door open." The trader then took
hold of the door and it came open immediately. Zip
was so astonished to think that the door opened so
readily to the negro-trader, and did not yield to him,
that he thought there must be something wrong about
it. He refused to go in liimself, and only fastened the
horse's bridle to a fence, then went over to the tavern
to tell the hostler that he might put the horse away.
From there he went to his house, for he lived there in
town, and as soon as he entered .the house his wife
warned him to flee for his life, for a trader had bought
him, and had been to the house with several young
men whom we saw behind the stable as we rode up
— placed themselves there for the purpose of waiting
till we came. Their motive was, when Zip went into
the stable to close the door on him and capture him.
I knew nothing about this at the lime. I put my
horse away, went to the house, got. something to eat,
then started to go some five miles to see some friends ;
but before I started I thought I would go into my
shop and brush my coat ; while there I sat down on
my bench just for a few moments, and all at once I
fell asleep. When I awoke the sun was just going
down. I think I had been asleep about an hour. I
did not have any idea of falling asleep when I entered
the shop, for I intended to have gone out of town. As

40 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
quick as thought I jumped up, took my hat and started
for the door ; just as I opened it there was a man pass
ing by whose name was Griffin Muse, who belonged
on James Smith's plantation about two miles off. He
saw me as I opened the door, and said to me, " Lind
say, where have you been ? I have been looking for
you this two hours. I just started to go down home
and give up the search, and to tell Zip that I could
not find you." Said 1, " what is the matter.'" Said he
to me, " did you not know that Zip was sold to a Geor
gian trader, who is trying to catch him." .Said I,
" where is Zip ?" I am sure I did not know any thing
about this, I did not dream of such a thing; I saw this
trader with some young men behind the stable, but did
not dream that he was after Zip. Griffin Muse said to
me, " Zip is down on our plantation, and has sent me
after you, and that his intention is to try to make his
escape to-night to a free country, and if you are going
with him to go to him as soon as possible." I was so
astonished that I did not know what to do. I told
hira to "wait for rae, and I would gel ready as soon as
possible." I went- a few blocks where I kept my box,
and in it I had three dollars, all the money I possessed
in the world. On my way back I met a man who
owed me fifty cents ; I dunned him, and as good luck
would have it he had the money and paid me.
I then went back to my shop and picked up all the
things that I thought I would want to take with me.
While I was making my arrangements ray boss came
into the shop. As soon as I saw him coming I pushed
my bundle under the bench and sat down on the
bench, pretending to be sick. He asked me if 1 " was

ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY. 41
going to church ;" I told him " I thought I should not,
for I was not feeling very well." After a while he went
out and closed the door after him. Soon as he was
gone I finished gathering up my things, then locked up
the shop and went into the "great house " to put the
key over the mantle-piece. Then Griffin Muse, Zip's
wife and myself started for Smith's plantation, about
two miles from Heathsville, where Zip was secreted.
When we arrived there Zip and Lorenzo were just
starting; it was nearly eleven o'clock; they had waited
for me till they thought I was not coming. They were
just bidding the folks farewell as I arrived at the house
where Zip stopped. * Two minutes more and I would
have been left behind. If I had not fallen asleep in
the shop I would have been out of town, and I should
have been left, for Griffin would not have found me ; and
if I had slept one minute longer he would have passed
by the shop and I would not have seen him ; one
minute more, either way, would have turned the scales.
All three of us. Zip, Lorenzo and myself, assembled
together and started for the Cone River, about a quar
ter of a mile from where we were. There were a num
ber of our plantation friends who went with us ; Zip's
wife and her mother, and a number of others. When
we came to the river, we stood on the bank and em
braced, kissed, and bade each other farewell. The
scene between Zip and his wife at parting was distress
ing to behold. Oh ! how the sobbing of his wife re
sounded in the depths of his heart ; we could not take
her with us for the boat was too small.

* These were Zip's plantation friends that were at this cabin home.

42 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
In the first place we look a small canoe and crossed
the river till we came to a plantation owned by a man
named Travis. , He had a large sail boat that we de
sired to capture, but we did not know how we should
accomplish it, 9.S they took a great deal of pains gener
ally to haul her up, lock her up and put the sails and
oars in the barn. .\s it was the Sabbath day, the
young folks had been sailing about the river, and in
stead of securing her as they usually did, they left her
anchored in the stream with the sails and oars all in
the boat. This was very fortunate for us, for the
house was very near to the shore, besides they had
very savage dogs there. So it would have been a very
difficult matter for us to attempt to capture the boat,
sails and oars if they had been where they were gener
ally kept. So all we had lo do was lo run our canoe
along side the boat and get on board.
It was quite calm before we started, but as soon as
we got ready, and the sails set, the wind began to rise,
and all that night we had all the wind we could carry
sail to. Lorenzo and myself, by keeping our oars in
motion, outran every thing that stayed on the water.
By the next morning we were a great distance from
home. We sailed all day and night Monday, and until
Tuesday night about nine o'clock, when vve landed just
below Frenchtown, Maryland. We there hauled the
boat up the best we could, and fastened her, then took
our bundles and started on foot. Zip, who had been a
sailor from a boy, knew the country and understood
where to go. He was afraid lo ^o through French-
town, so we look a circuitous route, until we came to
the road that leads from Frenchtown to New Castle.

ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY. 43
Here I became so exhausted that I was obliged lo rest;
we went into the woods, wliich were near by, and laid
down on the ground and slept for an hour or so, then
we started for New Castle.
I found I could not keep up with my companions,
for they could walk much faster than myself, and hence
got far ahead, and then would have to wait for me ; I
being lame was notable to keep up with them. At
last Zip said to me : " Lindsay, we shall have to leave
you for our enemies are after us, and if we wait for you
we shall all be taken ; so it would be better for one lo
be taken than all three." So after he had advised me
what course to take they started, and in a few minutes
left me out of sight. When I had lost sight of them I
sal down by the road side and wept, prayed, and wish
ed myself back where I first started. I thought it was
all over with me forever. I thought (5ne while I would
turn back as far as Frenchtown, and give myself up to
be captured ; then I thought that would not do ; a voice
spoke to me "not to make a fool of myself, you have
got so far from home, (about two hundred and fifty
miles), keep on towards freedom, and if you are taken,
let it be heading towards freedom." I then took fresh
courage and pressed my way onward towards the north
vvith anxious heart.
It was then two or three o'clock Wednesday morning,
the 8lh of May. I came lo the portion of the road
that had been cut through a very high hill, called the
" deep cul," which was in a curve, or which formed a
curve ; when I had got about mid-way of this curve I
heard a rumbling sound that seemed to me like thunder;
it was very dark, and I was afraid that we were to have

44 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
a storm ; but this rumbling kept on and did not cease
as thunder does, until at last ray hair on my head be
gan to rise ; I thought the world was coming to the
end. I flew around and asked myself "what is it }" .4t
last it came so near to me it seemed as if I could feel
the earth shake from under me, till at last the engine
came around the curve. I got sight of the fire and the
smoke ; said I, " it's the devil, it's the devil !" Il was the
first engine I had ever seen or heard of; I did not
know there was any thing of the kind in the world, and
being in the night, made it seem a great deal worse
than it was. I thought my last days had come ; I shook
from head to foot as the monster came rushing on
towards me. The bank was very steep near where I
was standing ; a voice says to me, " fly up the bank."
I made a desperate effort, and by the aid of the bushes
and trees which I grasped, I reached the top of the
bank, where there was a fence ; I rolled over the fence
and fell to the ground, and the last words I remember
saying were, that " the devil is about to burn me up,
farewell ! farewell !" After uttering these words I
fainted, or as I expressed it, I lost myself
I do not know how long I lay there, but when I had
recovered, (or came to myself), the devil had gone.
Oh ! how my heart did throb. I thought the patrollers
were after me on horseback. After I had gathered
strength enough I got up and sat there thinking what
lo do ; I first thought I would go off to the woods
somewhere and hide myself till the next night, and
then pursue my journey onward ; but then I thought
that would not do, for my enemies, who were pursuing
rae, would overtake and capture me. So I made up

d

?3 >Ht^w o

Hi

escape from slavery. 45
my mind that I would not loose any more time than
was necessary ; hence I crawled down the bank and
started on with trembling steps, expecting every mo
ment that that monster would be corning back to look
for me.
Thus, between hope and fear, and doubt, I continued
on foot till at last the day dawned and the sun had
just began to rise. When the sun had risen as high as
the tops of the trees, the monster all al once was com
ing back to meet me ; I said lo myself, " it is no use to
run, I had just as well stand and make the best of it,"
thinking I would make the best bargain that I could
with his majesty. Onward he came, with smoke and
fire flying, and as he drew near to me, I exclaimed to
myself " why ! what a monster's head he has on to him."
Oh ! said I, "look at his tushes,* I am a goner." I look
ed again, saying to myself, "look at the wagons he has
tied to him." Thinks I, "they are the wagons that he
carries the souls lo hell with." I looked through the
windows to see if I could see any black people that he
was carrying, but I did not see one, nothing but white
people. Then I thought it was not black people that
he was after, but only the whites, and I did not care
how many of them he took. He went by me like a
flash. I expected every moment that he would stop
and bid me come aboard, (for I had been a great hand
lo abuse the old gentleman ; when at home I used to
preach against him), but he did not, so I thought that
he was going so fast he could not slop. He was soon
out of sight, and I for the first time took a long breath.

? The cow-catcher in front of the engine.

46 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
I was very hungry, for I had not eaten any thing
much for two days. We came away in such a hurry
that we did not have lime to prepare much food ; we
look only some corn-cake and a little bacon ; 1 was
almost starved lo death ; I became quite weak, and
looked around on the ground to see if I could find any
thing green that I could eat. I began to fail very fast,
I thought I should die there on the road. All at once
I came lo a house, and a voice seemed to say to me,
" go to that house and see if you can get something to
eat." I said to myself, " there are white people that live
there and I shall be captured. They can but capture
me, and if I stay away I shall die." I went up lo the
door and rapped ; a lady came to the door and looked
at me with a smile upon her countenance as I spoke to
her. I said to myself, "I do not mind you while
people's smiles, I expect you think lo make money off
of me this morning." I asked her if "she would give
me something to eat." She said " she had nothing cook
ed, but if I would come in she would get me something."
I thought to myself, " I know what that means, you want
rae lo corne in in order to capture me ;" but neverthe
less I went in, and she set a chair up to the fire-place
and bade rae sit down. . Her husband sat there in one
corner, and looking up said to me : " My man, you are
¦¦ traveling early this morning," I said " yes, I made an
early start." (I did not tell him I had been traveling
all day and all night for three nights.) He asked me
" how far I was going," I told him "I was going to Phila
delphia ; that I had some friends there whom I had not
seen for some time, and I was going to visit them, and
then return in a few weeks." Very soon his wife had

ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY. 47
ray breakfast all ready of hara, eggs and a meal-cake,
and put them on the table, and then asked me to sit
down. I did so, without waiting for a second invita
tion, and the first moulhfull I look seemed to me as if
it would go straight through me ; I ate till I became
alarmed, for I thought I would betray myself by my
eating. I ate up most every thing she put on the table,
then I got up and asked " what I should pay for my
breakfast," she said " twenty-five cents." I put my hand
in my pocket and picked out a quarter, giving it to hen
I started on my journey, feeling like a new man.. I
walked on till about noon, at which time I reached
New Castle. The first one I saw was Lorenzo, who
was one of the men who left me on the road. He came
a little vvay out of the city to look for me, to see if I was
any where in sight ; vve met and went into the city,
found Zip, and once more we were together. The boat
lefl there for Philadelphia twice a day. She had left
in the morning before they had arrived, but she re
turned in the afternoon, only to start right off again
the same afternoon.
By the time the boat had returned, I was there, so
we three all went on board. How we ever passed
through New Castle as we did, without being detected,
is more than I can tell, for it was one of the worst
slave towns in the country, and the law was such that
no steamboat, or any thing else, could take a colored
person to Philadelphia without first proving his or her
freedom. What makes it so astonishing to me is, that
we walked aboard right in sight of every body, and no
one spoke a word to us. We went to the captain's
office and bought our tickets, without a word being
said lo us.

48 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
We arrived safely in Philadelphia that afternoon ;
there upon the wharf we separated, after bidding each
other farewell. Lorenzo and Zip went on board a .ship
for Europe, and went lo sea. I started up the street,
not knowing where I was going, or what would become
of me ; I walked on till I came to a shoe store, went in
and asked a white gentleman, "' do you want lo hire a
shoe-maker.?" He said, "I do not, but think you can
find a place by going a little further." I proceeded a
liltle further, and came to a shop kept by a colored
man, whose name was Simpson. I went in and intro
duced myself lo hira the best I could. (I did not let
hira know that I was a fugitive.) We sat there and
talked till most night ; I then asked him if he " could
keep me all night.?" He replied "no, for it was not
convenient for him to do so."
Here I was, hedged in, not knowing what course to
take ; I was down cast, and the thought of having no
friend or shelter only sank me into deeper perplexity.
He told me " he had a brother who lived on a certain
street, who he thought would lake me." Hearing this I
felt somewhat encouraged, but not understanding the
number he gave me, in order to find his brother, I was
as badly off as before. As il was getting late he began
lo make preparation for shutting up his shop. My
heart began to ache within me, for I was puzzled what
to do ; but just before he shut up, a colored minister
carae in ; I thought, perhaps I could find a friend in
hira, and when he was through talking with Simpson
he started lo go out. I followed him to the side-walk
and asked him " if he would be kind enough to give me
lodging that night." He told me " he could not, for he

ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY. 49
was going to church ; that it would be late before the
service closed, and besides it vvould not be convenient
for him."
Here the same heavy cloud closed in upon me again,
for it was getting dark, and I had no where lo sleep
that night. Circumstances were against me ; he told
me " I could get a lodging place if I would go to the
tavern." I made no reply to this advice, but felt some
what sad, for my last hope had fled. He then asked
me if " I was free." I told him that " I was a free man."
(I did not intend to let him know that I was a fugitive.)
Here I was in a great dilemma, not knowing what to
do or say. He told me if " I was a fugitive I would find
friends." " If any one needs a friend I do," though 1 1 to
myself, for just at this lime I needed the consolation
and assistance of a friend, one on whom I could rely.
So thought I, "it will be best for me to make known
that I am a fugitive, and not to keep it a secret any
longer." I told him frankly that "I was from the
South, and that I was a runaway." He said, "you
are.?" I said "yes." He asked me ''if I had told Simp
son ;" I said " no." He then called Simpson and asked
him "if he knew that this brother was a fugitive ;" he
said " no." After finding this to be a fact, Simpson ask
ed me if " that was so ?" 1 said " it was." He then told
me to "come with him, that he had room enough for
me." I went home with him and he introduced me to
his family, and they all had a great time rejoicing over
me. After giving me a good supper, they secreted me
in a little room called the fugitive's room, to sleep ; I
soon forgot all that occurred around me. I was rest
ing quietly in the arms of sleep, for I was very tired.
4

50 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
The next morning Simpson went in pursuit of the
two men who had been with me, but he could not find
them. I have never seen them since. My parting
with them at the Philadelphia wharf was the last I
saw of them. Simpson then went among the Aboli
tionists, and informed them of my case ; many of
them came lo see me. They talked of sending me to
England ; one Quaker asked me if I would like " to
see the Queen." I told him " I did not care where I
went so long as I was safe." They held a meeting that
day, and decided to send me to Springfield, Mass.; this
was the fifth day after I left home. The next day,
Friday morning, Brother Simpson took me down to the
steamboat and started me for New York, giving me a
letter directed lo David Ruggles, of New York.
• The nearer I came to New York the worse I fell, for
I did not know how I should find Mr. Ruggles. Just
as I reached the dock there was a lady whom I had
never seen before ; I went lo her and asked her " if she
knew of such a man, by the name of David Ruggles.?"
She told me that she "did know of such a person, and
that he lived on her way home." She kindly consented
to show me where he lived. I went along with her
without any raore trouble in mind about it. I gave
Ruggles the letter, and we had a great time rejoicing
together. I staid vvith him till Monday. On Monday,
the ninth day of my travels, he gave me two letters,
one to a Mr. Foster, in Hartford ; and the other to
Doctor Osgood, in gpringfield. Mr. Ruggles sent a
boy with me down to the steamboat, and I started for
Hartford on a boat which sailed in the afternoon.
Towards night I went up to the clerk's office to pay

ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY. 51
my fare. I asked him " how much it would be .?" He
told me it was "three dollars." I told him "it was a large
sum of money, more than I possessed." He then asked
me " how much I had .?" I told him " two dollars and
fifty-eight cents." He told me that " that would not do,
and that I must get the rest of it." I told him " that
I was a stranger there, and that I knew no 'one." He
said: "You should have asked and found out." I
told him " I did, and was told that the fare would be
two dollars, and that was nearly all I possessed at
that time." He requested me to hand it lo him,
which I did, and it robbed me of every cent I had. I
then took my ticket and went forward and laid down
among some bales of cotton. I was very chilly and
cold, and I felt very much depressed in spirits and
cast down.
The climate had changed much since I left home, I
was out of money and among strangers ; my heart sank
within me, for I was faint and hungry, and had no
means to pay for my supper. I fell asleep while lying
among the bales of cotton. After tea was over with
the passengers, one of the waiters came and awoke me,
and asked if "I wanted any supper.?" I replied ''no,"
knowing that I had no means to pay for il. Soon another
one came and cordially invited me to partake of some,
that it would cost me nothing. I went to the cabin,
and had an excellent supper. The old saying proved
true in my case, that " a friend in need is a friend in
deed." Before I retired for the night some one came
through the cabin and told the way-passengers that
they must come to the captain's office and leave the
number of their berth before they retired for the night.
I did not know what he meant by that saying ; I

52 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
thought it meant all the passengers to pay extra foi
their berths. Now, thought I, if that is the case, and
I sleep in the berth all night, and in the morning have
no money lo pay with, I shall be in trouble sure
enough. As I was very tired, I desired very much to
lie down and rest ; so I thought I would risk it and lie
down and sleep till daylight. I reached Hartford quite
early the next morning, so I lay till I thought the boat
was along-side the wharf; I then got up and dressed
myself and looked at the number of my berth, as I was
told to see what it was, so if I should meet the cap-
lain I could tell him. I then started for the deck, and
on reaching there I looked around, and wondered how
I should find Mr. Foster. While I was looking, I saw
a colored man standing, and seemed to be looking at
me. I went up to him and asked him if " he knew a
man by the name of Foster.?" 'He replied: "Yes."'
I asked him if " he would show me where he lived .?" He
said : " Yes." So he went along with me, and I found
Mr. Foster's residence by directions given ; and, find
ing him al home, I presented the letter. After he had
read it, he began to congratulate me on my escape.
When he had. conversed wilh me awhile, he went out
among the friends, (Abolitionists), and informed them
of ray circumstances, in order to solicit aid lo forward
rae on to Springfield.
Many of them came in to see me, and received me
cordially ; I began to realize that I had some friends.
I stayed with Mr. Foster till afternoon. He raised
three dollars for my benefit and gave il lo me, and then
took me to the steamboat and started me for Spring
field. I reached there a liltle before night.

ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY. 53
When I had reached the wharf I stepped ashore,
and saw a man standing on the dock ; and, after in
quiries concerning Doctor Osgood's residence, he
kindly showed it to me. The Doctor, being at home,
I gave him the letter, and as soon as he had read il,
he and his family congratulated me on my escape from
the hand of the oppressor. He informed me that the
letter stated " that he could either send me to Canada,
or he could keep me in Springfield, just as he thought
best." He said : " I think we will keep you here, so
you can make yourself at home." The family gath
ered around me to listen lo my thrilling narrative of
escape. We talked till the bell notified them that sup
per was ready. An excellent meal was prepared for
me, which I accepted gladly, for the Doctor was a
very liberal man, saying. " Friend, come in and have
some supper."
Wheat bread was the same as cake to me in those
days, for my food al the South was principally corn-
cake and bacon. While I was eating, his daughter
said : " Don't be afraid, but help yourself." Not be
ing accustomed to eating at the "greathouse" at
home, you must imagine that it produced some em-
barassment in my mind. When the supper was over,
the family gathered in the sitting room for prayers, as
it was their custom to read a portion of the Scriptures
before retiring for the night ; and I was asked to read
vvith them. Before conducting prayers the Doctor
sang one of his favorite hymns, in which all the family
united. I listened with pleasure, and my whole soul
entered into the holy service.
The next morning the Doctor asked rae " how I rest-

54 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
ed .?" I replied, " very well sir." He informed me that
breakfast would soon be ready. It was customary for
them lo have prayers before the morning meal, which
was something new to me ; it seemed more like a meet
ing lo me, to attend prayers with such a pious family.
Dr. Osgood was very benevolent, and his charitable
deeds were many ; none were turned away hungry from
his door. I was much impressed with his genial spirit,
consistent and zealous piety, and activity in the cause
of Christ. His life was upright, pure, and good, and
his Christian faith unfaltering. None in want ever ap
pealed to him in vain. Truly that passage of Scripture
can be applied to him: "For I was an hungered and
ye gave me meat : I was thirsty and ye gave me drink :
I was a stranger and ye took me in : Naked and ye
clothed me : I was sick and ye visited me : I was in
prison and ye came unto me." "Verily I say unto
you inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least
of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
Rev. Dr. Osgood who " always abounded in the
works of the Lord," was in the habit of rising very
early, and held prayer meetings twice a week, from five
to six o'clock in the morning. The young and the
aged gathered at the chapel, which was half-a-mile
from the Doctor's residence. The day laborers who
" earned their bread by the sweat of their brow," at
tended before going to work ; also, the wealthy were
there, and it was an hour of refreshing lo many souls.
The invigorating air of the early morning seemed lo
make the conference room a fitting place for the holy
spirit.

ESCAPE FROM SLAVERY. 55
The opening hymn was most generally sung, begin
ning thus :
" Lord, in the morning thou shall hear
My voice ascending high :
To Thee will I direct my prayer,
To Thee lift up mine eye.
" U)} to the hills where Christ is gone,
To plead for all His saints,
Presenting at His Father's throne
Our songs and our complaints."

Which echoed beautifully as the birds sang in the
spring their sweetest carols, as they flew among the
branches of the large elm tree which stood before the
door of the chapel. All were very devotional, unlike
as it is with us, for every one bowed the head in silent
prayer as they entered the house of God, and really
it did seem like a heaven below.
Dr. Osgood was pastor over a large congregation.
His church was a large, white Presbyterian church, on a
beautiful green lawn not far from the chapel. The early
morning services resulted in a large revival, in which
one hundred came out on the Lord's side, rejoicing in
their new-found hopes. All were made welcome, and
Christian fellowship was truly exhibited towards all.

56 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.

CHAPTER V.

LIFE IN FREEDOM.
Employment in a shoe shop— Education at Wilbraham— Licensed
to preach— John M. Brown— Mrs. Cecelia Platt— Elizabeth
Osgood — Sabbath and Mission Schools — Return lo Springfield —
Engagement with Dr. Hudson — Experience at Saybrook— -Per
secutions of Abolitionists — Lecturing — Courtship and marriage.
R. OSGOOD felt an interest in my safely, for
my master was on ray track, and had adver
tised me through the press, trying every
means to get me, if possible. The Doctor secreted me
in a little room, called the fugitive's room. As I was
secreted, all schemes to capture were baffled.
After keeping me for a while, the Doctor endeavored
to find employment for me as a shoe maker. He went
to several persons, but found none that would take me.
Finally, for safely — and the last resort — he went to see
Mr. Elmore, an Abolitionist, who was a wholesale
shoe dealer on Main Street. He readily took rae, sa)'-
ing : "Bring him to me, I want to see him." 1 went
lo him one night with the Doctor, and he made a bar
gain with me, and also gave me some work lo do in his
work-shop, secreted from public gaze. Ilwas the first
work I had ever done in the like of a freedman, w-luch_
gave me strength to think I was a man with_ others.

LIFE IN FREEDOM. 57
I Stayed wilh him one year, and during that year,
besides clothing myself and paying my board, I saved
one hundred and thirty dollars. I soon became a
great favorite vvith all the hands in the shop. I well
knew a man in Springfield who commenced with only
six cents in his pocket — for he was once a poor ap
prentice boy — who, in the course of lime, became a
wealthy man, which gave me great encouragement to
save my earnings.
As I never had had any advantages for obtaining an
education, I felt the importance of il at this time. I
made known my desire lo Mr. Elmore, who said il was
a good project, and advised rae to attend school by all
means. The old saying is, " it is money that makes
the wheels turn, but after all, education moves the lo
comotive." I then made preparation to attend school at
Wilbraham, Mass. After I had been there a while I
became quite proficient in my studies, especially in
mathematics, it being my favorite study. At first I
found it difficult to keep up with the course of study;
I overcame it, however, and progressed so rapidly that
the students and the faculty of the academy gave me
great praise. I remained two or three years. As I
was a poor student, I worked at my trade to pay ray
board and tuition. So many hours were given rae for
work, and so many for study ; and thus I kept myself
busily employed while al Wilbraham.
The reagon I attended school tliere was because it
was a raore retired ]2lace_forjii&.- I was very ambitious
to learn, fori knew I vvould be better qualified to enter
into business for myself, which I had some thoughts of
doing then. While I was at Wilbraham I was licensed

58 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
to preach the Gospel ; I held meetings in Springfield
and Ludlow, and the Lord blessed me in my endeav
ors. I had a fellovv-sludent who occupied the same
room with me. This chum of mine was a young man
from Philadelphia, by the name of John M. Brown,
who was then preparing for college. 4iier completing
the academical course, he attended Oberlin College, and
graduated with honors, and then became professor of
Wilberforce College for young men. He expressed a
strong desire for me lo finish my education at Oberlin,
but, not having sufficient means to pay my expenses,
I did not go.
As vve were firm friends, it was sorrowful for us lo
part, as I found much iilcasure in his ronijiany. Wu
walked together, spent our hours of recreation together,
conversed on themes that interested us the most while
we were students at Wilbraham.
In the course of some years he was chosen Presiding
Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Churches of color.
While al Wilbraham Mr. Brown and myself held a
seriesof meetings in Springfield, at the house of a Mrs.
Cecelia Platt, for the colored people had no church of
their own at this time to worship in. Mrs. Plall was a
devoted Christian, of many remarkable characteristics.
and zealous in the works of the Lord. She long since
has been summoned to meet her reward ; she died in
the triumph of faith. Her house was the welcome
home of strangers and friends, whom she always made
happy and comfortable. Her home was called the
" pastors' home," for they were always made welcome
whenever they came. Some of the students, those
studying for the ministry, would come in from Wilbra-

LIFE IN FREEDOM. 59
ham on Saturdays, and stop at the home of Mrs. Platt,
in case of a storm, or being fatigued by the journey,
and return on Monday morning. She was very chari
table lo the needy ; as a Christian, very few were her
equal. It was there where the first preaching service
was held, and the first Sabbath School began. In re
ferring to the Sabbath School, I must acknowledge that
those who were engaged in this great work were ardent
and active workers, for there were no timid drones.
Mrs. Stebbins — better known as the teacher among
the freedmen in the barracks in Washington has since
gone to rest from her labors ; peacefully fell asleep in
Jesus — was one of the most faithful co-workers of this
institution. Miss Elizabeth Osgood, the daughter of Dr. Osgood,
was very enthusiastic in this mission ; her deeds at
tracted more than a passing notice, and through her
instrumentality many poor children were clothed so as
to be presentable for the Sabbath School. She went
out into the highways and hedges and gathered them
in with their tattered garments, wilh the promise of a
new suit of clothes; and thus many a little heart was
made glad. ' . ^
Miss Osgood was then a member of the Washirig- '^^l^vOC^,n/i
loniarT'Society. The object of this society was for the
benefit of the poor. Useful articles of all kinds of
wearing apparel were made for the needy.
We now turn our thoughts to the Sabbath School.
In establishing the school the co-workers took pains,
in the course of the week, to notify all the children of
the neighborhood, and went out into the lanes and
hedges, urging them to come into the proposed school.

60 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
They were taught Bible truths, thus preparing them for
future usefulness. Many of the scholars were newly
impressed with something that would go with them
through the week, and restrain them from sin ; also,
keeping them in the fear of God. The influence of
the Sunday School was felt in the community. The
scholars became interested in the lessons, and loved
and respected their instructors. Through the aid of
the Presbyterians this school was organized ; and,
opening wilh five scholars, the number increased to
twenty, and then to one hundred. A small library was
procured. A lady aged ninety years, who attended
the school, learned to read the Bible, and the perusal
of its sacred pages was a great comfort lo her.
After a while, when the school was fully established,
we opened a class-meeting, and the parents of the
children, and other adults, began to flock to the house
of prayer. They came from all quarters lo enjoy one
another's experiences, feeling il was good for them to
be there. As the people came in such numbers, there
was not sufficient room in Mrs. Piatt's home for the
convenience of the people. We found it necessary to
build a chapel near by, and accomplished it within a
year's time. It was plainly built, only for temporary
use, till we could do better. Before entering it, how
ever, a large revival broke out, which resulted in the
conversion of souls.
During the revival I generally made it a point lo come
in from Wilbraham — a distance of nine miles— Saturday
afternoons for the purpose of assisting in the meetings
on the Sabbath. Occasionally the white students of
Wilbraham Academy would favor me with a pleasant
drive in a buggy. Those who had relatives in Spring-

LIFE IN FREEDOM. 61
field often visited them on Saturday. They came to
our quarterly and revival meetings, and seemed to take
quite an interest in them. They were very enthusias
tic, and helped us, by their remarks and testimonies,
making the meetings a power for good. Many of the
faithful, who sustained these meetings, have long ago
been called to the great " Harvest Home," where, I
doubt not, there will be gathered many rich and pre
cious sheaves.
At this lime the colored ladies of the chapel re
solved to organize a Sewing Society, which con
sisted of a President, Vice President, Secretary and
Treasurer. There was also a committee of ladies who
went around to solicit funds to carry out their plans.
They had no regular sewing room, but went around
from house to house.
After accumulating thirty or forty dollars' worth of
sewing, they opened a fair in Masonic Hall ; the pro
ceeds were used towards building a more commodious
church for worship. A fair audience attended. The
hall was profusely trimmed vvith evergreens, and the
galleries with floral wreaths, intermingled with ever
greens, and flags placed at different points. Certain
parts of the hall were devoted to the sale of useful arti
cles, which had been generously donated to the ladies
by the merchants. There were fancy articles of all
descriptions, and the needle-work was finely executed.
The ice-cream, lemonade and pastry were served by
competent ladies, who received a liberal patronage.
The ladies labored arduously to make the fair a suc
cess, and their untiring efforts were well rewarded.
The committee received, from time to lime, sums of

62 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
money from benevolent persons to encourage them in
the great work they had undertaken. God prospered
them, and in the course of a few years a Methodist
Church was built on Main Street. Now they have two
churches; the second church is on Elm Street.
Many changes have taken place in Springfield ; the
house where we held our first meeting has long since
been completely demolished, and given place to rail
road tracks, on which street cars and omnibusses run.
In going lo Chicopee it looks like a level plain as far
as the eye can reach. This village is now a part of
Springfield, making it a city of many manufacturing
resources, and in consequence is a thrifty and enter
prising city. So lime changes all things.
Finally I left school and returned lo Springfield. I
becarne acquainted _with _ D r, JI ad s o n, ^aa jUdo 1 i t ion i s t
qf^greal note in those dayv^^lio- was an antj.-^aye.Ly
lecttixgiL-. It was no small thing to be a worker in such
a cause. The Doctor engaged me to travel vvith him
for one year. I, according to agreement, accompanied
him, for I desired to do all the good I could. We had
great success in our mission ; we traveled all through
the eastern and western part of Connecticut, and a part
of Massachusetts. We had some opposition lo contend
wilh. It made itrauch better for the Doctor in having
rae wilh him. Brickbats and rotten eggs were very
common in those days ; an anti-slavery lecturer was
often showered by them. Slavery at this time had a
great raany friends.
When we were in Saybrook there was but one Abo
litionist in the place, and whose wife was sick. As we
could not be accommodated at his house, we stopped

LIFE IN FREEDOM. 63
at a tavern ; the inmates were very bitter toward us,
and more especially to the Doctor. I became much
alarmed about my own situation. There was an old sea
captain who was there that night, and while in conver
sation vvith the Doctor, had some very hard talk, which
resulted in a dispute, or contest in words ; I thought it
would terminate in a fight. The captain asked the
Doctor, " What do you know about slavery .? All you
know about it I suppose, is what this fellow (meaning
me) has told you, and if I knew who his master was, and
where he was, I would write to him to come on and
take him." This frightened rae very much. I whisper
ed to the Doctor that we had better retire for the night.
We went lo our rooms. I feared I should be taken out
of my room before morning, so I barred my door vvith
chairs and other furniture that was in the room, before
I went to bed. Notwithstanding, I did not sleep much
that night. When we had arisen the next morning and
dressed ourselves, vve went down stairs, but did not
stay to breakfast; we took our breakfast at the house
of the man whose wife was sick. We gave out notice,
by hand-bills, that vve would lecture in the afternoon;
so vve made preparation, and went at the time appoint
ed. The hall was filled to its utmost capacity, but we
could not do much, owing to the pressure that was so
strong against us : hence we had no success in this
place. We went to the tavern and stayed that night.
The next morning we went about two miles from this
place to the township, and stopped at the house of a
friend ; one of the same persuasion. He went to the
school committee, and got the use of the school-house.
We gave out notice that there would be an anti-slavery

64 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
lecture in the school-house that night. When it was
most time for us, word came that we could not have
the school-house for the purpose of such a lecture.
We thought that we would not be out-done by ob
stacles. The man al whose house we were stopping cor
dially told us that we might have the use of his house ;
so we changed the place of the lecture from the school-
house to his house. The house was full ; and we had,
as we thought, a good meeting. At the close of the
lecture the people retired for home. After a while we
retired for the evening, feeling that we had the victory.
The next morning the Doctor went lo the barn lo
feed his horse, and found that some one had entered
the barn and shaved his horse's mane and tail close lo
the skin ; and, besides, had cut our buffalo robe all in
pieces ; besides shaving the horse, the villains had cut
his ears off. Il was the most distressed looking animal
you ever saw, and was indeed to be pitied. The Dr.
gathered up the fragments of the buffalo robe and
brought them to the house ; it was a sight to behold !
We intended to have left that day, but we changed
our minds and stayed over another night, and held
another meeting. The house was crowded to excess
that evening. At the close of the service the Doctor
told how some one had shaved and cut his horse, and
brought out the cut robe and held it up before the
people, saying : " This is the way the friends of slavery
have treated me. Those who have done it are known,
but I shall not hurt a hair of their heads. I hope the
Lord may forgive them." The" people seemed lo
feel very badly about it.
We left the next day for another place ; the name I

LIFE IN FREEDOM. 65

cannot recall now. | We had better success when we
went to Torringfordj" for here the people had just
passed through a terrible raob, on account of an anti-
slavery lecturer. The raob broke the windows of the
church, and the lecturer had to escape for his life.
We arrived here on Saturday, and put up with one of
the deacons of the church. The next morning, after
breakfast, he harnessed up his horse and sleigh, (for it
was winter), and he and his family and I drove off to
the church. Every eye was upon rae. The deacon
said to me : " Follow me, and sit with me in my pew."
I did so, and every eye was fixed upon me, I being a
colored man ; and, being sealed in a deacon's pew,
caused quite a stir or bustle among the worshipers.
There was such a comraolion that the minister could
hardly preach. [
At the close of the service one of the other deacons
came to the one that I was with, and seemed to be
much excited. My friend asked him : " What is the
matter, you appear lo be mad ?" " No," says he, "I
am not mad, but grieved to think that you have taken
that nigger into the pew with you ; I think you had
better promote your own niggers instead of strangers."
My friend told him that " the pew was his ; that he had
paid for it, and that he had the right lo have any one
sit with him whom he chose ; and that he did not
think that it was any body's business." ||When the con
troversy was over we went home and ate dinner.
In the afternoon we started for the church again, and
after arriving there I took my seat with the deacon ; it
did not affect the worshipers so much this time as it did
in the morning. After the meeting closed vve started
S

66 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
for home, and ate our supper : and in the evening the
Doctor and I intended lo have the church for our lec
ture. On arriving there. Oh ! such a crowd met us al the
door that we could hardly get in. Through persever
ance we made our way lo the pulpit and took our seats.
Some of the men who were engaged in the mob a few
months before came and look the front seats, and
looked as though they could devour us. I did not
know what would become of us that night.
We began our meeting. The Doctor spoke first.
They did not intend to have him speak, (being a white
man), for the raen were desirous to hear rae ; they kept
quiet, however, for the sake of hearing me. When the
Doctor was through I took the stand, and before I had
flKiali£.d_m-yJalk j;ook_allJhe fight~oiiF of EBem ;. some
of them we£t like children ; so you see that it changed
those men's hearts towards us, for a sympathetic feel
ing seemed to pervade through their hearts. I made
many friends for myself that night. I heard one of
them say that " if my master came there after me he
would fight for me as long as he had a drop of blood
in him." There were no more mobs in Torringford
after Ihatl
We iTTSti started for other parts of the State, and the
work of the Lord prospered in our hands. I went back
to Wilbraham and lectured in the hall to a large
audience ; and from there I went to South Wilbraham,
and spoke in the M. E. Church to a full house. Many
that heard of the sufferings of the poor slave wept like
children ; many turned from slavery lo anti-slavery.
I went from South Wilbraham to Boston, and spoke in

LIFE IN FREEDOM. 67
the Spring Street Church before a large assembly. I
spoke in Worcester, and many left the slavery ranks
and joined the anti-slavery. I have spoken in some
places in Connecticut where the people have acted as
though they had never seen a colored man before ; they
would shake hands with me and then look at their
hands to see if I had left any black on them. I met
with success every where I went ; I traveled all the
winter of 1842 with the Doctor, and in the spring fol
lowing I left him and returned to Sprin.gfield, to re
sume my trade again, (boot and shoe-making), and
worked a few months.
During my first year vvith Mr. Elmore I formed an
acquaintance with a young lady. Miss Emeline Minerva
Platt, who was visiting' one fourth of July a friend of
mine, at whose home I boarded for a lime. At this
time I had made up my mind to settle Northj and had
given up all idea of ever visiting my Southern friends.
As I had often seen this lady, in company with other
friends, I thought il would be a good opportunity, on
this occasion, to offer my hand in marriage.
Four years from my first acquaintance, in the^grin^
0^^1842, we were married. I have three daughters
and one son.

<^«-^^^^^'«-

68 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.

CHAPTER VI.

LIFE IN NORWICH, CONN.
Came to Norwich — Started business — Purchase a house — Perse
cutions and difiiculties — Ministerial labors — Church troubles —
Formation of a new Methodist Church — Retiring from minis
terial work — Amos B. Herring — Mary Humphreys — Sketches
of life and customs in Africa.
In coming to Norwich, Conn., in 1842, I took
a shop on Main Street, near where Perkins
Block now stands ; here I remained one
year. The next year, 1843, I moved across Franklin
Square, in the rear of Chapman's Block, the place now
occupied by R. R. Armstrong as a fish-market ; here I
remained till I was burned out. This shop contained
a side-room, which was occupied by John Wells, who
hired it of me, and was employed as a boot-black. On
the night of the fire he was asleep in his room, and
came very near loosing his life; by breaking his door
open he was rescued from the burning flames. This
shop was burned to the ground. I then moved to a
shop on Shetucket Street, and from here to a shop in
Chapman's Block, where I remained for a number of
vears. I then secured a shop on Bath Street, where I
am located at the present time.

LIFE IN NORWICH, CONN. 69
In first coming to Norwich, I established myself in
business with a full line of customers. I then looked
about for a tenement lo live in and succeeded in find
ing one, through a friend, on Franklin Street, and then
I returned to Massachusetts for my wife, who came in
June. After living two years and-a-half on this street,
I moved lo a tenement on School Street, where I re
mained one year. The next year I had accumulated
money enough to pay one-half for a frame house — only
a few steps from where I then lived — before taking
possession of it. Three years from this time I paid
off all the mortgage on the house ; then I truly fell that
it was my own, since through my energy and toil I had
gained it.
In establishing myself in business, Mr. Gurdon A.
Jones, a wholesale shoe dealer, patronized me by giving
me his custom work. He was the first shoe dealer who
gave me work, and thus greatly assisted me towards
my accumulations.
As the years rolled on my family began to increase
so that I deemed it necessary to procure a larger
house. Having made several attempts, I bought a
desirable one on Oak Street. After a struggle of a few
years we moved into our new home. Reader, you
must not think that I obtained it without any trouble.
Ah ! no ; it was under difficulties ; I had raany a heart
ache ; I was persecuted on every hand for getting a
home. While many would be encouraged for their in
dustry and toil, my people are subject to all sorts of _
abuse for Eilying desjrable Jiomej for their famUies. ^
We were in Norwich when colored young men were
not allowed to attend the High School that was kept

70 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
for young men on School Street. A promising young
man of color applied for admission, and was promptly
rejected. It is owing to being deprived of the chance
to acquire an education that many of the old inhabi
tants, and the young, are ignorant to-day.
We were wailing with anxious expectation for the day
to dawn, to enjoy all our privileges and equal rights as
citizens. We have waded through many trials, and
suffered every thing but death itself, in endeavoring lo
educate our children ; raany a time they have been lo
school with a heavy heart while trying to solve some
problem or translation. Oh ! how my heart went out
for them ; they were not easily daunted, for they were
filled with enthusiastic ardor ; they shrank from no
obstacles. The old saying is, " the darkest hour is just
before dawn."
My two daughters, Louie .\melia Smith, and Emma
J. I. Smith, after completing, the former a classical and
the" latter an English course at the Norwich Free
Academy, in Norwich, graduated from that institution,
and thus qualified themselves for future usefulness.
They have proved very successful as teachers in Wash
ington, D. C. My eldest daughter, Sarah Ann Smith,
a graduate from the Normal Grammar School, is living
al home and making herself useful. My son, James
H. Smith, follows the trade of his father.
The first commencement of my ministerial labors,
after I came to Norwich, was in a Union Church on
Allen Street. There were ivvo colored denominations
which worshiped in this church — the Methodists and
Presbyterians ; both societies had a share in this
church. The agreement was that each denomination

LIFE IN NORWICH, CONN. 71
were to take their turns in leading the meetings. The
Methodists were very anxious to have me preach for
them, and the Presbyterians desired a pastor of their
own persuasion. The upper part of the church was
used for the Sabbath school, and the basement for the
preaching services. T'he reason for this was, because
the regular audience room was not finished. The stove
was moved lo either part of the house, to suit their
convenience. Prayer and class meetings were often
held during the week at private houses. The Meth
odists were very zealous, and generally conducted the
services on the Sabbath that the Presbyterians right
fully claimed. This caused a strife among them, and
then a controversy arose with reference to the two
ministers. One evening while I was preaching, a red hot stove
was carried out from the upper part of the church into
the street by the opposite party ; when the heat had
abated somewhat, they carried it into the basement.
The lights were put out, leaving me in total darkness.
The meeting got fairly beyond control ; the seals and
floor were well besmeared with oil. More lamps were
procured from the neighboring houses, and I continu
ed the services till we were completely frozen out, and
were obliged lo close before the usual time. The
other party continued till after nine o'clock.
The two societies never became reconciled to each
other, and consequently there was a split in the church.
The Presbyterians stayed at their post, while the
Methodists went off by themselves, and gave up all
they had init in the church to the Presbyterians. To
keep themselves together, they held meetings at private

72 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
houses, of great spiritual power. This separation weak
ened the Presbyterians somewhat, and they disbanded
soon after, as the Methodists formed the larger part of
the congregation. Prior to this a singing school was
opened, and they made a vast improvement in the
singing. Thus was the beginning of my first trials in
the ministry.
The Methodists, after awhile, bought a building lot
in the rear of Franklin Street, of William Prentice,
for which they paid him two hundred dollars. Rev.
Leaven Tilman came lo Norwich lo aid us in organiz
ing a Methodist Church, as it was his business lo or
ganize churches wherever they were needed. He went
around lo solicit funds for that purpose, and was very
zealous in the work. Myself and others, with his aid,
solicited funds for purchasing the ground, and for the
building. After the house was completed it was dedi
cated to the Lord. At the dedication. Bishop Quinn,
Bishop Clark, Rev. H. J. Johnson, and others, were
present and conducted the services.
We opened a Sabbath school and were prospered in
our good work ; we formed a bible-class, and opened
a singing school. The bible-class consisted of young
men who had formed themselves into a club called the
"Young Men's Christian Association." Every Sabbath
they were found in their places, and the class was in a
flourishing condition.
The church was under the supervision of our New
England Conference, which supplied us vvith ministers.
I preached for the people of this parish for twenty
years. We experienced many refreshing seasons ; death
invaded our ranks, calling out some very faithful and

LIFE IN NORWICH, CONN. 73
efficient helpers. The Sabbath school was broken up
on account of the death of its prominent leaders.
At the time of the great rebellion the young men of the
church disbanded and responded readily to their coun
try's call. Although there were many obstacles to re
tard the progress of the church, yet there were a few
who held on and hoped for better days. I was ordain
ed Deacon, at the New England Conference, and after
being with them four years, they appointed rae Local
Deacon. During my whole ministry in the church, I_
had no regular salary ; I worked at my trade to sup
port myself and family. I was compelled, by growing
infirmities to retire from my pastoral labors, feeling
that the days of my actual usefulness were almost over.
The house of worship became so dilapidated as the
years rolled on that we sold it, and it passed into other
hands. After Mr. Gurdon A. Jones' decease, the well-known
firms of E. G. Bidwell, J. H. Kelley, and J. F. Cos
grove employed me for years to do their custom work,
which was quite a pecuniary assistance and help to me.
During rn^jtaxjn Springfield, JtI.'iss^I_became ac
quainted with a man by the name of Amos B= Her
ri ngTaTnatn^^ Afrjca. It seems he had been on to
"Springfield once before, but, not having finished his
education, he had returned to complete his course at
Wilbraham Academy. He was a widower with six
boys, the two eldest of whom he had left in Paris, to be
educated, while he had come here. His wife had
heen dead four years; so he left his beautifully fur
nished house in Monrovia in charge of a housekeeper,
paying her a dollar a month— just here you will see how

74 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L, SMll 11.
low wages were in Africa. He told me every thing was
nearly as cheap as could be. He had not been in
Springfield long before he became acquainted wilh a
Mrs. Lucy Terret, of Washington, D. C. They mar
ried ; but upon his returning lo Africa his wife did not
long survive. She had made a great many friends
during her stay in Springfield, and when he wrote back
that his wife was dead we could not but regret that she
had ever left us. Soon after her arrival in Monrovia
she was attacked with a fever, from which she died.
She was very fond of the tropical fruit which abound
ed, such as bananas, bread-fruit and dates, and had
been cautioned about eating it before she was fully
acclimated. At one time it was thought she vvould
live through -the attack, but she insisted on tasting
the fruit, which she appeared lo enjoy belter than
any thing else. A daughter by a former marriage — a
sweet and attractive child — also found a grave in a
foreign land.
Another friend of mine. Miss Mary Humphreys, also
went lo Africa as a missionary, and established a
school in Monrovia. Her sole object in going was to
do all the good she could in the way of enlightening
her people. Soon she was smitten down wilh the
African fever. So we see it is almost impossible for
persons from this country lo live in that climate.
Very few survive the fever, and the fever they must
have. I remember when there was so much talk about
emigrating to Liberia that quite a number of my peo
ple embarked for the foreign land. Accounts after
wards showed that most of them died, if not on ship
board, soon after they reached shore.

LIFE IN NORWICH, CONN. 75
Mr. Herring and myself often enjoyed raany pleas
ant conversations. I used to love to hear him tell of
Africa I had read so much about. He said that Mon
rovia was quite a thriving town then, and a great spec
ulative mart for merchants of all nations. Many of the
merchants who live there can not own lands, but can
hire them. In passing the king, the white man is
obliged to take off his hat. It is necessary in present
ing yourself bt;fore a chief or king, to carry a lot of
presents to insure a welcome, notwithstanding they
may not be of very great value ; but they must be
showy, such as bright colored shirts, and red cloth
which is worn to adorn the breast pocket. Only a
few of the Africans are able to wear stripes of red
cloth. Some are clad entirely in shirts made of leather,
which they skillfully prepare. . I was quite amused at
his account of a chief who consumed daily a sheep
and the milk of seven cows.
The king partook of a kind of macaroni, prepared
from wheat, with a rich seasoning of butter ; while the
natives ale apples pounded up and simmered down, in
the place of real butler, which they considered very
good. The natives burnt a kind of brush lo keep the
panthers and hyenas away, which abounded in large
numbers. In speaking of A.frica I would say that slavery still
exists there. Slave ships are traveling to and fro from
Africa to many of our foreign ports laden vvith slaves.
We look forward to the day when Africa shall be free,
and my people shall have that liberty that rightfully
belongs to them. Many missionaries have gone out
there to enlighten and leach the natives the " Good

76 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
Way ;" but after awhile we find most of ihera more in
terested in the gold and silver than in the civilization
of the people.
In referring to the chief who consumed a sheep
every day, you must not think this species were as large
as the American sheep. These animals were not fat
tened like the sheep among us. They were very lean,
and scarcely any fat on their ribs. They resided in
the dense forests, and sought their own food, and sub
sisted on all kinds of nuts, tropical fruits, or any thing
they could find to eat. They inhabited the interior
of Western Africa, and other parts of the country.
The cows, also, for the want of care and green pasture
fields to feed in, were not as large in size as those in
America ; and. for this reason, they gave a small sup
ply of milk daily. It required a supply of milk from
seven cows in order to obtain milk enough for the
chief

THE WAR OF THE REBELLION. 77

CHAPTER VII.

THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.
Desire to return to Virginia — Opening of the War — Disdain of
the aid of colored men — Defeat — Progress of the War — Em
ploying colored men — Emancipation Proclamation — Celebra
tion — Patriotism of Colored Soldiers — Bravery at Port Hudson
— Close of the War — Death of Lincoln — A tribute to Senator
Sumner — Passage of the Civil Rights Bill — Our Standard
Bearers.

OR many years, while slavery existed, I have
never ceased to pray that _God, in his all wise
providence vvould bring it to pass that I
might return to the land that gave me birth, and see
my former friends. As the signs of the times looked
dark and doubtful, I began lo think I should never
realize such a blessing; but time passed on, and vvith
it the rebellion increased in strength, war rumors were
afloat, and the very air seemed to bespeak war. God
gave us war signs which spoke of the dissolution of the
Union. Some said in case of a war between the North
and South, that it would result in the liberation of the
slave. I said il vvould be loo good a blessing to be true,
not dreaming that such a course would lead to it ; not
knowing which way the scales would turn. We all
know the immediate cause of the rebellion. The North

.78 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
and South were at length arrayed against each other
in two great political parlies on the question of slavery.
The Nprthern party triumphed, and though no unlaw
ful act was charged against it, and no simulated claim
or assumption offered that it had not succeeded in a
lawful and constitutional way, the defeated Southern
party refused lo accept the decision of the ballot box,
and rushing into open revolt proceeded to organize a
government of its own. Not being satisfied in what
they already possessed they craved for more territory,
and fired on Fort Sumter for that purpose in the
spring of 1861, little dreaming that they themselves
were destroying their beloved institution.
The first sound of the cannon that saluted the ears
of Major Anderson, and his starving garrison, was the
death knell of slavery. The heart of the nation beat
in unison ; every telegraph wire vibrated with the news,
"Sumpter has fallen." The news spread like the flash
of lightning through the country ; it united the people
and aroused the nation lo a sense of its duty; the
proud sons of America responded as one to the call of
their country. It vvas then this war began in which
we have all had to take our part. When President
Lincoln called for men lo defend the country, the call
was for white men. Our martyred President, proud in
the strength of his high position said, " the Union must
be saved wilh slavery, if it can, without it, if it must."
Did he forget that al the great wheel of stale there was
a guiding hand, stronger and mightier, and more just
than his.? Truly, "God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders lo perform."
Al the beginning of the war, few anticipated the

THE WAR OF 't'HE REBELLION. 79
great and important changes so soon to be wrought by
it. To the observing eye the hand of God has been
seen in the war ; seen in the overthrow of the -proud,
and uplifting of the lowly; seen in the fall of the task
master and the emancipation of the slave. Many
fought for the liberation of the colored man, although
they hated him. How well do I remember the time
when our Northern army undertook to go into battle
at Bull Run. The Northerners, corrupted by unex
ampled prosperity, and forgetful of the traditions of
their forefathers, the vital and animating principles
underlying the very foundations of this government,
severed their course from the cause of liberty and
every hope by which the black man raighl take
courage, proclaiming it to be the white man's war
exclusively. The Northerners, ea.ger for glory and
greedy for honor in that eventful hour disdained the
proffered service of the colored man, and would not
even permit him to drive a wagon in train of their
army ; and even more, vvould not allow him to wear
the cast-off clothing of their soldiers for fear the im
perial blue of this great republic would be dishonored
by them, and perverted from a sacred purpose.
Under such circumstances, the Northern troops, filled
wilh pride and haughtiness, promptly responding to the
call, " On to Richmond," moved in military order to
plant their standard on the walls of Richmond. Not a
military instrument of music, or drum cheered the
march; the deep silence broken only by the 'muffled
tread of the advancing host, or the heavy rumbling of
the artillery carriages. On their march they were con
fronted at Bull Run hy an army animated by a sterner

80 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
and more determined will. The rising sun of the ever
memorable 21st of July, 1861, beheld the Union troops
in ¦' war's bright and stern array ;'' their polished arras
shone in the morning's light, and their silken banners
glittering in the sun. The long line of bayonets flash
ing in the sunbeams, extended rows of array wagons
with their white tops, winding columns of cavalry, the
dark looking ambulances, all combined to form a scene
of thrilling interest, and presented a magnificent spec
tacle. But the parting rays of that same sun looked down
on defeated, routed and disgraced men ; their bright
arms thrown away, and their silken banners were taken
by the exulting Rebels as trophies of war, or trailed in
the dust. Then, forgetful of all their proud boastings,
our Northern troops made a hiisty retreat towards
Washington. The panic was disgraceful in the ex
treme ; for miles the road vvas black with men running
in all directions. Hosts of Federal troops, some sepa
rated from their regiments, were fleeing along the road
and through the fields, all mingled in one disorderly
route. Horses galloped at random, riderless from the
battle-field, many of them in the agonies of death
swelling the wild commotion. Then the heavy artil
lery, such as was not destroyed, came thundering along,
overturning and smashing every thing in its passage.
Hacks conveying spectators from the battle-field were
completely smashed, leaving the occupants lo the mercy
of the vvay. Sutler's teams, carriages and army wagons
blockaded the passage way, and fell against each other
amidst the dense cloud of dust. Men lying seriously
wounded along the banks entreated, wilh raised hands.

THE WAR OF THE REBELLION. 81
those on horse-back to lift them further back, so they
might not be trod on.
The Northern troops, in this celebrated race of
twenty-five miles, with forty thousand entries, was
made without stopping ; for the goal was Washington,
and the prize safely. Though taxed lo their utmost,
it is sorrowful to reflect that all this haste and endur
ance were needlessly expended. We have the facts in
history that the Southerners did not pursue the Union
army, and they did not find out the mistake till after
the flight. This lesson was terrible to the North, but
it vvas not sufficient lo teach them lo do justice lo the
down-trodden of my people ; and, still relying on their
superior numbers and almost boundless resources, the
government called for three hundred thousand more
raen. It was at this time that the whole North, humbled
by defeat, and eager to revenge the Rebels, sprang to
arms. Soon there was a gathering of the clans from
the rivers to the lakes, and from ocean to ocean.
George B. McClellan, of the West, led a mighty host
towards Richmond, and by a new route. The earth
shook beneath the tread of his army, and the ocean
was filled with his iron-clad war ships. Being chained
down by fate in the pestilential swamps of the Chick-
ahominy, daring not to strike, and unwilling to retreat,
he permitted the golden moments to pass until his
army was decimated by disease. The South then took
fresh courage, and gathered from her broad dominions
her best and bravest sons and threw them, with irre
sistible force, upon his defeated army. Indignant and
morose, our army sought safety beneath the guns of
, 6

82 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
the fleet, otherwise every one of them would have been
annihilated. It was under these circumstances of gloom and de
spondency that our beloved martyr President lifted
himself to the height of his great duties ; issued the
immortal proclamation of emancipation, proclaiming
liberty to the oppressed millions made in the image of
God; severing the chains from the limbs of hundreds
of thousands. Their shouts of joy for new-born liber
ty had rung over distant hills, and through wooded
dales. I was then keeping shop in Chapman's Block, on
Franklin Square, when the proclamation of freedom
was proclaimed ; it sent a thrill of joy through every
avenue of my soul. I exclaimed, " Glory lo God, peace
on earth, and good will to men," for the year of jubilee
has come ! His glorious Proclamation of Emancipa
tion will stamp the first of January, 1863, as the day of
days ; the great day of jubilee to millions. When that
battle cry resounded throughout the land, o'er river
and plains, o'er mountains and glens, even then the
government could not entirely emancipate itself from
the hateful spirit of caste. Still awed by the traditions
of the past, it had not the courage to say lo the freed
men : " We want you to fight in defence of the life of
the nation;" but they said : " We want you as laborers,
and for your better organization and control vve will
enroll you in companies, and form you into a regiment,
and for your protection, we will arm you."
It was by this sneaking, back-door arrangement that
they were smuggled surreptitiously into the service of
our country. It was plainly seen that the American

THE WAR OF THE REBELLION. 83
people, at first, were unwilling that the colored man
should go into battle — it was " the white man's war,
and negroes had nothing to do wilh il." When the
Governor of the State of Ohio was asked if he would
accept of a colored company, he replied that they
" did n't want negroes " — and for the love to their coun
try went to Massachusetts and enlisted, with the prom
ise of the pitiful sum of seven dollars a month. And
not until the Massachusetts Governor received the col
ored man as a soldier did the governors of the other
Northern States think they could condescend to give
the negro a musket and a suit of blue. These are facts
that can not truthfully be denied. It was not the in
tention of the government at the beginning of the war
to free the slaves, but they soon learned that men of
color were made for a nobler purpose than to be
"drawers of water and hewers of wood."
As a war necessity, the Americans bestirred them
selves for their protectioti ; they were driven to take
measures that neither God, justice nor humanity could
induce them to adopt, knowing that the Rebels armed
the slaves to fight against them, for they saw that they
were likely to be defeated. It has been said that col
ored men will not fight for liberty, but will run at the
first fire. They questioned their loyalty, and distrust
ed their fighting qualities. When we think of the Bull
Run race, we have nothing to say about running. Let
me direct your attention to that brave Fifty-fourth
Massachusetts colored regiment, who marched in the
line of battle when more than one-third of their num
ber had fallen, their color-bearer lying in the cold em
brace of death, when a Mr. Wall, of Oberlin, grasped

84 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
the flag, mounted the parapet and waved over the
conquered enemy the stars and stripes. If that is not
bravery, I ask what is.? Is it running.? We find them
running to replace the flag of our country in the very
capital of the Rebels, and we, as a nation, need not be
ashamed of this kind of running.
I commend the daring and noble deeds of our sol
diers, and hand them down to posterity as worthy of
imitation, and that they have won for themselves a proud
position on the pages of American history. Thanks
be lo God the colored raen, as soldiers, have shown lo
the world their true patriotism in their valor and cour
age, and displayed as dauntless bravery as ever illumi
nated a battle field. Thousands have fought and
died. They met death calmly, bravely defending the
cause that we revere. The world has looked on wilh
admiration and wonder at the boldness and daring of
their victorious host, for they have contributed largely
towards some of its splendid victories. They have
come forward by thousands, and rallied around the so
called "banner of the free," hoping that by preserving
it from the hands of the enemy lo make our dear be
loved country free — what she has so long been called
in song and story : " The land of the free and the home
of the brave," — after two hundred years or raore of op
pression and injustice, and having not only their rights
as citizens, but their manhood ignored ; and, besides, a
thousand other wrongs calculated to kill the patriotism
in any other than a black man.
An incident of bravery of the colored troops at
Port Hudson, I am about lo relate, sends a thrill
through every avenue of my soul. I wish il could be

THE WAR OF THE REBELLION. 85
burned into our hearts wilh words of fire, so that no
tongue would henceforth dare to utter or repeat the
old slander that "black men will not fight for free
dom." Let the vaunted Anglo-Saxon stand back
abashed before this sublime exhibition.
In 1863 the Fifty-Second Regiment Massachusetts
Colored Volunteers were ordered to charge the enemy's
works, and did it' magnificently. Just before they
reached the forts they came to a ditch thirty feet wide
and ten feet deep, full of water, which was absolutely
impassable ; they were ordered forward again ; they
could only do and die, yet on, right on they went to
the hopeless charge; into the storm of grape and mus
ket balls ; on, with no chance of doing any thing but to
die like brave men ; on, where their white officers dare
not to lead, till nearly half their number were dead or
dying. Five times more they charged up lo this ba
you, when they were withdrawn.
When I think of these torn and bleeding veterans as
they wended their way to the hospital, it seems too
horrible to relate. Nevertheless il is so, for I have the
facts. I can hardly speak of it but with many tears.
Bless God that they have shown themselves worthy to
be free, and entitled to all the inalienable rights, among
which are " life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ;"
having won the rights for all their posterity, without
having them infringed upon, for they are blood-bought
rights. Can a people into whose hands arms have been
placed, and who have been drilled in the art and
science of war, become again slayes .? And can this na
tion, that has advanced so rapidly in the cause of free
dom, go backwards so much as to re-enslave a people

86 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
that have assisted in fighting its battles .? Forbid it,
justice ! forbid it, humanity ! forbid it, ye spirits of our
fathers, still hovering over us ! forbid it, our Country !
forbid it. Heaven !
In the spring of 1S65 the war closed ; then the lov
ers of the Union, and freedom, were giving thanks to
God for recent victories they had gained, and rejoiced
that right and justice had triumphed over wrong. City
after city fell, until Richmond itself was surrendered
to a band of colored warriors.
There are times when the human heart is so over
whelmed with joy and gratitude, with thanksgiving and
praise, that words seem meaningless, and language fails
lo convey the deep emotion felt. Words were inade
quate to convey the joy unspeakable, and almost full
of glory, that the lovers of the Union felt at that hour
of triumph. Great were the rejoicings over the fall of
Richmond ; beautiful were the displays made in all
the places, far and near. Flags were thrown out to the
breeze, bells resounded, bonfires, illuminations ; the
rocket's red glare, and the cannon boomed forth its
peals of thunder. The innumerable lights which flash
ed forth their brilliancy threw into magnificent relief
the gorgeous decorations of the buildings. Crowds of
human beings of all sexes, nationalities and colors as
sembled in the streets ; they were wild with excite
ment ; they were crazy with joy ; enthusiasm cannot
describe it. Men hugged each other, struck one anoth
er, yelled and screamed like wild men.
Peace, vvith its snowy wings, seemed to be hovering
in the air, ready to shed its blessings on the distracted
and blood-drenched country. Richmond, for four long

THE WAR OF THE REBELLION. 87
years of blood and tears, of fire and sword, was at last
convulsed in its last death-throe. Events of magnitude
crowded upon us in such rapidity that before we could
duly digest the one, another of more startling import
ance rushed in and pushed it aside. Before vve had
half thought out the evacuation of Richmond, then
came the sudden news of the surrender of Gen. Lee,
and the Confederate army of Virginia.
¦But ah ! our day of rejoicing had scarcely passed
when the same wires that brought the tidings of the
surrender of Lee, brought the sad intelligence that our
beloved President vvas dead — fallen by the hand of an
assassin ! Oh, what a shock to the American people.
Our rejoicing was turned into mourning; the whole
country was draped in mourning ; every eye was dim
med with tears. Pen can not begin to describe the sad
ness ; deeply the people felt the loss of one whom they
loved as a father. The American Nation has lost a
pure patriot ; humanity a tried friend ; freedom a great
champion. He was stricken down at the time when
his great wisdom vvas so much needed in bringing his
distracted and blood-drenched country into the harbor
of returning peace and prosperity. His course, from
the time of his inauguration, had been marked with wis
dom and justice; his manner had been unfaltering;
his ffeelings could be touched by all classes of the na
tion, from the highest to the lowest — an instrument in
the hands of God in avenging and redressing the
wrongs of years, and the emancipator of my heretofore
enslaved brethren of the South. None were afraid to
approach his Excellency, and justice was always meted
out, as the circumstances of the case required. It was

88 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMFS I,. SMITH.
my desire that he might have witnessed the end of the
beginning ; but as Moses, he viewed, but was not per
mitted by Divine Providence to reach the end of the
beginning, which began to loom up wilh such splendor.
The position he placed us in, as a people, causes us to
feel as did the children of Israel when they passed
through the Red Sea and were freed from the hand of
Pharaoh and his pursuing host. Abraham Lincoln
has gone but a step before us, but ever memorable wiill
be his name in the hearts of the loyal millions.
IN MEMORIAM.
We also pay tribute to the late Senator Sumner, that
in his death, we, and the friends of freedom everywhere
have lost a sincere and earnest friend, an able and un
tiring philanthropist and statesman ; the principle of
freedom he strove so earnestly to inculcate into the
minds of all, irrespective of coraplexion. It was his
last and raost deeply cherished wish to lift up the col
ored race to the plane of perfect equality. " See to the
Civil Rights Bill, don 't lei it fail," were among his last
utterances to his colleague, who stood beside the dying
Senator. Probably at no period of his life did he more
forcibly illustrate his perseverance, his energy, his zeal
and eloquence than in the many efforts he made to
pass this bill. That bill was the great work which was
to crown his labors. We never can express the senti
ments of gratitude which his name awakens in the
breast of every colored American. In defending the
rights of my people by the most generous sentiments
of his aspiring nature, by his sincere love of justice, he
has acquired an immortal tille lo all their descendants.
The Civil Rights Bill, passed April 9th, 1866.

the war OF THE REBELLION. 89
OUR STANDARD BEARERS.
Thomas Jarrett, James and Lucretia Moll, Francis
Jackson, Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison,
Henry C. Wright, Owen Lovejoy, Lydia Maria Childs,
Abby Kelly Foster, the Phelpses, Samuel Budgetl, and
many others, by their pen and voice poured 'floods of
light upon the minds and hearts of the public through
evil as well as through good report, until they have cre
ated unto God, and developed that moral and religious
influence which has always accomplished that lo which
they consecrated themselves, and for which they strove
with a devotion as constant as truth, and with an in
dustry and zeal as unwavering as justice, and with a
fidelity as pure as their cause was patriotic and sacred.
Let them, and many others, shine as stars, for they
were as beacon lights for freedom. They spoke when
speech cost something ; their greeting vvas the violence
of the mob, and their baptism fire and blood. They
did not " count their lives dear unto themselves." The
sufferings and death of Torrey Lovejoy and John
Brown, has sent a thrill through the hearts of the na
tion, for they possessed a self-sacrificing spirit. I^et
their names be written with a diamond ; let the his
torian stamp them with letters of fire upon tablets of
gold ; let the poet sing them in sweet strains ; let the
scholar, with the graces of literature, embalm them ;
let the great of humanity enshrine them. Their deeds
can never be effaced, but will exist as an imperishable
memento, engraven on the hearts of the people.

90 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.

CHAPTER VIII.

AFTER THE WAR.
Fear of capture— A visit to HeathsviUe— Father Christmas, and
a children's festival — Preaclilng at Washington — My first
visit to my old home — Joy and rejoicing — Meeting my old mis
tress — My old cabin home — The old spring — Change of situa
tions — The old doctor — Improvement in the condition of the
colored people — Buying homes — Indusliy.
FTER the Fugitive Slave Law was passed,
terror struck the hearts of those who had
escaped to the. free Slates, as no earthly
power could prevent them from being returned to their
masters. Very many were taken back. For my part,
I was very much frightened, and was continually
haunted by dreams which were so vivid as lo appear
really true. One night I dreamt my master had come
for me, and, as he proved property, I was delivered up
lo him by the United Stales Marshal. In the morning
I told the dream to my wife. She said she " believed
il would come true," and was very much worried.
I went down to my shop, and, in the course of the
morning, while looking out of my window, I noticed
a number of persons who had just come in on the train,
and among them I vvas sure I saw ray master. You

AFTER THE WAR. 91
may rest assured I vvas pretty well frightened out of my
wits. What to do I did not know. This man did
certainly walk like him, had whiskers like him ; in fact
his whole'general appearance resembled his so much
that I vvas sure that he had been put on ray track. I
peeped out at him as he passed my door and saw him
go up the steps leading to the office of the U. S. Mar
shal, then I vvas sure he had come for me. I could do
no more work that day.
As my friends came in I told them of what I had
seen, my fears, etc. ; and they assured me they would
be on the look-out and see if such a man was in town,
find out his errand, etc. Accordingly one of them who
was a town crier, Dunton by name, went to the hotels
and searched the registers to see if a man by the
name of Lackey vvas registered there. At night he
reported that no such name could be found. My
friends declared that I should not leave this town.
One even went so far as^ to gqjq_the U. S. Marshal
and ask if " any one should come, looking for me, what
he would do ; would bfi-.g'-vj^-mg-up ''" He replied:
"No, he'd resign his position first." Another bought
a revolver, and told me that " if they had me up, that,
by some means, he would manage it so as lo get it into
my hands, that I might in some way defend myself"
I had determined never to be taken back alive. Death
was preferable to slavery, now that I had lasted the
sweets of liberty. As il was, dreams of this kind
ceased to trouble me, and the effects and fear wore off.
It was not till after the Emancipation Proclamation,
that a man who is living in Norwich to-day, told me
that after I left the South, and had settled here, he

92 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. 'SMITH.
went lo Plealhsville, to the very place where I used to
live, saw ray master, who asked him "whether, in his
travels North, he had ever come across a man who was
lame, a shoe-maker by trade; that he would give him
two hundred dollars, cash, for any information which
would lead lo his discovery." He returned home, said
nothing whatever lo me, for fear I would be alarmed,
sell out and leave the place ; said nothing lo any one
about it till after January isl, 1863, when freedom was
proclaimed throughout the land.
During one of my visits lo Heathsville, on which I
always carried a large stock of clothing, shoes, etc., I
formed a plan for some amusement among the young
people. On Sunday it vvas announced that on a cer
tain evening during the week there would be a Christ
mas tree. All were invited to come ; accordingly when
the time arrived, the church was packed ; many came
from miles away. I selected a young man who I in
tended should represent Father Christmas, as he is
called there. I put on hira a long swallow tail coat,
the ends of which almost touched the floor, .then he
was filled out so as lo lie very large ; he had on an ex
tremely sharp pointed collar, which extended far out
from his face, which was hidden behind a mask. I
opened with an address, and at a given signal. Father
Christmas made his first appearance. Many of the
children, even some of the old people were frightened
nearly out of their wits; one child ran forward, crying
to his Uncle John lo save him ; some fell over each
other lo get out of the way. Well, I laughed till I
could laugh no longer, and finally I was obliged to dis
pense with Father Christmas before any thing like order

AFTER THE WAR. 93
could be obtained. Then the different articles were
distributed, and if you could have heard the many
prayers that went up from thankful hearts for the gifts
received, no one would tire of this good work. General
satisfaction reigned, and after a hymn of thanksgiving
they dispersed to their homes.
January, 1867, I was called to visit Washington, lo
see about a school for my daughter. While there I
was invited by the pastor of Israel Church to preach
on the Sabbath. At the close of the service many of
my former friends came forward to greet rae, and in
formed me of the old plantation, where my brother and
two sisters still resided. I immediately wrote lo my
brother to let him know that I vvas still alive, and that
I should visit Heathsville at such a time, and asked
him if " he thought there would be any danger in com
ing.'' He informed me that " there was no danger, for
Virginia was free." When he received the letter it
seemed as from one risen from the dead. My sister
took the letter and went round amongst her friends,
wild with joy.
A few weeks after this I made preparations to start
on my long-premeditaled journey, in the middle of
June, 1S67. I went by vvay of Washington. As I was
proceeding down the old Potomac River her red banks
looked natural to me, so much so that I could hardly
suppress the feeling of joy which arose in my heart.
That night the boat stopped about forty miles from
Heathsville. The. next morning, about light, I went
ashore, as I vvas very anxious to tread once more on the
old Virginia soil. Very soon the bell rang for the boat
to start; I hastened on board again. By this lime she

94 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
had got under way, and I reached Cone Wharf at six
o'clock — the very spot from where I started thirty
years before. It seemed to me more like a dream than a
reality. No one can imagine how I felt ; I could not
believe that il was possible that I vvas going home to
tread on free soil. I asked myself the question : " Can
it be possible that Virginia is free?" I looked ashore
before the boat reached the landing, and saw those old
ex-slave-holders standing on the dock, which sent a
thrill all over me. But soon the boat rounded up to
the dock, and as soon as the gang-plank was put out
there were some while young men who came aboard
and stepped up to the bar and began drinking. A col
ored man, also, went up to get something to drink.
There was a row that commenced wilh the white men
and the colored man, and came very near ending in a
fight. Here I saw the old spirit of slavery exhibited
by the whites. This somewhat increased my fears ; but
quiet was soon restored, and I stepped ashore almost
on the same spot where I was thirty years before.
Things looked changed somewhat since I left, but
after awhile I came to inyself and found that I was
really home again, unmolested where I was once a
slave, and my joy knew no bounds. I was soon dis
covered by some of my old friends, and we congratulated
one another like old friends, for I seemed lo them like
one risen from the grave. I felt as though I wanted to
get down and kiss the free ground upon which I stood.
I could hardly restrain my feelings, for it was a new
day with me. This visit was fraught with many sad
reminiscences of the past.
After looking about and seeing the many changes

AFTER THE WAR. 95
that had been wrought in thirty years, I was taken by
my friends and conveyed to my brother's house. On
my way I came lo the old mill, gray with age, where I
used to work. In the mill was a little room partition
ed off where I had in former days done shoe-making.
We stopped, and I went into the little room and saw
where my bench used to stand, and the old, quaint fire
place where I used to make my fire. While I was there
I remembered the joys and sorrows that I had passed
through during the time I occupied that room. I then
went to look for the old spring where I used to get
water; I found it and knelt down by the side of it
and drank therefrom. No language could express my
feelings while I knelt over that spring. I then arose
and continued my journey till I carae to a cross-path,
which I traveled in my former days. I asked the driv
er if "he would halt and let me get out of the wagon,"
and told him that " he could drive around and I would
go across." As I viewed the place, old scenes seemed
so natural to me that I could not help praising God in
the highest for bringing me back to the place of my
birth. I waited a few minutes, and then proceeded on.
We then came to the old Heathsville spring; here I
got out also and stooped to drink. We then came to
the village of Heathsville, and as soon as I entered it,
I was recognized by old friends who knew me in for
mer days. I alighted from the wagon and we clasped
each other, and a full tide of joy rushed over our souls.
Here I found my brother's wife, he having been sold
years before. After looking around at the different
places where I had lived, and the different shops where
I had worked, I started for my brother's house, located

96 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
about two miles out of the village of Heathsville.
When I was within half-a-raile of his house, I met my
brother coming out of the house of a friend, and as
soon as I saw him I knew him, although I had not seen
him for years.
Dear reader, you should have been there in order to
have realized the scene of our meeting. We got hold
of each other and put our arms around each other's
neck without speaking for some minutes; the silence
was broken, and I exclaimed : " Dear brother, is it pos
sible that vve are standing on Virginia's free soil, and
we are free.?" My brother replied, "yes, dear brother,
and you too have been living in the ' land of the free
and the home of the brave,' " We wept and rejoiced,
and praised God for his goodness in bringing us to
gether once more on free soil. For a short tinie all
was excitement and confusion. When il had subsided
we started for the house, where I met my eldest sister.
She pressed eagerly forward to greet me, and we seem
ed to each other as one risen from the dead. We, too,
fell on each other's neck and clasped each other and
wept. News spread like wild-fire that Lindsay Payne
(for that was my name before I escaped from slavery),
had returned home again. Many of my old friends
who once knew me, came flocking in to see me. My
listeners were never weary, as I related to them the
history of my life al the North, and described the vari
ed scenes through which I had passed. My joy and
excitement rose to such a height, that I scarcely knew
whether I was in the body or out.
In the afternoon I went down to the " great house,"
so-called in the days of slavery, where Mrs. Sarah

AFTER THE WAR. 97
Winsted lived, who was formerly my mistress. She
was the second wife of my former master, Mr. Langs
don. She survived him, and afterwards married a Mr.
Winsted, who died before her. When I got within
two hundred yards of the house she saw me coming,
and knew me. Il being warm weather she threw on
her sun bonnet and came lo meet me, and was so glad
that she wept and grasped my hand for a minute before
either spoke. At last she broke the silence by saying :
" Oh ! Lindsay, is this you .?" I replied : " This 'is
me, what there is left of me." Says Mrs. Winsted :
" Let us go to the house." Mrs. Winsted then intro
duced me to her daughter, who had been born since I
lefl, and then set the table and would have me take
dinner wilh her. Although I had eaten dinner, I ac
cepted her cordial invitation as an appreciation of her
kindness. After dinner she told me " to relate to her the nar
rative of ray escape from slavery ; how I got away, and
how the Yankees had treated me since I had been up
amongst them ?" I set my chair back, and told her
the whole story of my escape. When I told her how
frightened I was by seeing the cars, and thought the
engine was the devil coming after me, she really did
shake with laughter. I also informed her of our sail
up the Chesapeake Bay in a small boat, and how we
were overtaken by^ the storm of wind and came very
near being lost, but we reached the land of freedom in
safety ; that the Northern people had treated rae com
paratively well ; and that I had bought me a comfort
able home. She seemed to be very much pleased with

98 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
ray recital. I gave her a nice pair of shoes, for which
she was very thankful.
While on this visit I saw a great many places of my
childhood. Among them were Hog Point, where I spent
many of my boyhood days; and, also, the very spot
where I was made lame. I saw the old oak tree that
stood near my mother's cabin home, which I have
mentioned in the first part of this work, on a limb of
which Mr. Haney hung one of his slaves, and whipped
him till the ground beneath hira vvas stained with his
blood. I tried to find the same limb, but although the
tree appeared lo be in perfect health and strength, that
limb seeraed to have withered and dropped off. While
I was meditating under this tree, many scenes of ray
boyhood carae vividly to my recollection. I then
searched for my mother's cabin home, but no humble
cabin, like the one in ray memory met my eye ; it had
given place to a dense pine forest. The logs of the
cabin had either been burned, or rotted with the dust
of the earth. All was desolate in tlie extreme. I call
ed, but there was no response ; no voice of a kind
mother greeted my ear ; no welcome of the eleven
brothers and sisters greeted my approach ; all was
speechless as the grave. Nothing occupied that sacred
spot but the reptile and the owl. As I gazed and
thought I became faint and sorrowful. I turned from
here in pursuit of the spring from which I had carried
so many buckets of water. After much search and
labor, crawling through the bushes and fallen trees, I
found the old spring and drank therefrom. The old
gum tree that was near this spring in my childhood
days, I found there still, being bent with age; its

o rO
O >tt

o

^3oo

AFTER the WAR. 99
branches hung over this spring. Il was once noted
for its healing properties, the berries of which were
used for medicinal purposes.
These three springs that I have mentioned, have
served to quench the thirst of many a weary soldier as
he stooped to drink, at the time of the great rebellion.
I knelt, and offered my heart in prayer and thanksgiv
ing to " God, who doelh all things well." I thought how
often my brothers and sisters and myself, came lo and
from that spring; but now we were separated, nearly
all of us, never more to meet, till we meet in that
heavenly land where father, mother and children shall
never part; "where the wicked cease from troubling,
and the weary are at rest." From there, wilh a heavy
heart, I went in search of our neighbors; they, too,
like the cabin, were gone ; they had been committed
lo the dust, and their spirits had returned to "God,
who gave them." Their houses were occupied by
others ; wilh a sad heart I retraced my steps to the
home of Mis. Winsted, and then to my brother's.
I spent three or four weeks in Heathsville, and while
I was on this visit I went a second time to see Mrs.
Winsted, and found her in the garden, in the hot sun,
hoeing. Said I, " is il possible that you can work out
in the hot sun .?" She replied, " Lindsay, we can do a
great many things when we are obliged lo, that we
once thought we could not do." I saw the changes
that freedom had wrought, and I thought, " how people
can accommodate themselves to circumstances." When
we were on the plantation together she would not
allow herself even lo walk out doors in the hottest part
of the day, without a servant lo hold an umbrella over
her.

100 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
Many a man who was very rich, has been reduced to
beggary. Many of those negro traders, who used to
buy up a large number of slaves and carry them down
to the lower States and sell them, have become so poor
that they have not clothes lo hide their nakedness.
'They go around among the freedmen and beg for some
thing to eat. I know a man who was once very rich,
worth about half-a-million, who has since been reduced
to such poverty that he has been obliged lo hire him
self out under the United States service to work on a
mud machine, as a common day laborer, and is not al
lowed to go and see his family but once in three
months, he being in Norfolk and his family in Balti
more. Others, who vvere rich, are even worse off than
he. This description does not include all the slave
holders, for those who were kind and humane towards
their slaves are far better off in circumstances than the
others. The slaves, as a general thing, did not leave
them in the time of the war, but stayed vvith them to
protect their properly, while their masters were on the
battle field. Those who brutalized their victims seem
to be marked by the vengeance of the Almighty ; they
are wasting away like the early dew, for many have
nowhere to lay their heads, except among those whom
they have abused.
The colored people, unlike all other nations on the
face of the earth, are ready to fulfill that passage of
Scripture: "Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed
him ; if he thirst, give him drink ; for in so doing thou
shall heap coals of fire on his head." Many of them,
when bleeding from the effects of the knotted whips
applied by their cruel task masters, could have risen

AFTER THE WAR. 101
and made the land knee deep with the blood of their
oppressors, and thus avenged themselves of the host of
cruel wrongs which they have suffered ; but, instead of
raising an insurrection, they calmly left the plantations
without injuring a hair of the heads of their masters,
and went on the Union side ; and not till the United
States put arms into their hands, and bade them go
forward in the defence of their country, did they at
tempt to show any signs of revenge.
During my first visit I noticed that very many of the
houses looked very ancient and dilapidated. The old
slave pens, and the whipping posts, stood just as they
were when I left. The fertile soil which once brought
forth in abundance, and the cotton and corn, presented
an unbroken scene of barrenness and desolation. The
place was almost depopulated — plantations forsaken.
The South has been subjected to a fearful waste of
population. Thousands of the colored people during
the war, and many thousands of whites also left, to say
nothing of those who have been killed. I only found
one brother and two sisters living. Since that time my
eldest sister has died, leaving four or five children,
three of whom had been torn from her, and sold into
slavery, and she never heard from them again. She
was a great sufferer, owing to the want of proper care,
and sorrow reigned in her inmost soul. Finally the
Angel of Death came and severed |^her from her suffer
ings. Her husband survives her, as I write. " The
fountains of bitter sorrow are stirred by the healing
branch that God can cast." As soon as I struck the
Virginia wharf, the words of the aged colored doctor
came vividly to my mind, who told rae my future des-

102 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
tiny : " that in the course of lime I would return to
my native land." Sure enough, I had returned after
thirty years' absence.
A day or two after I had made my escape from slav
ery, Thomas Langsdon, supposing that the old doctor
was accessory lo my running away, fell on the man
and beat him in a brutal manner, most shocking to be
hold. The doctor never recovered from his injuries ;
being a free raan he did not have any one to intercede
for him. After I had been home a few days I inquired
after the doctor and found, lo my great sorrow, that he
had gone to his long home, where no foe nor hostile
bands will ever enter its peaceful inclosure. In my re
peated visits lo Heathsville, I observed but little im
provement since the great rebellion ; there have been
but few houses built for the last thirty years. The
condition of the colored people is improving very fast,
for many of them are buying lands and building, and
thus preparing homes for themselves. Their condition
is much better than those who once owned them. The
old ex-slave-holders are dying off very fast. As they
have no one to cultivate their large plantations, and
can not do it themselves, they are obliged lo divide
them up and sell them to the freedmen, as they are
growing over with dense forests.* I think that event
ually, Virginia will be in as flourishing a condition as
any section of the United States.
The Northern people are beginning to emigrate
there. The steam whistle from the factory and saw-
*These pine trees had grown up from the larger trees, (saplings as they are
called), and reminded me of past days, when we slaves had to fell tticni for
fire-wood for our masters. The woodlands were owned by them, and nothing
could induce them to buy fuel to burn as long as they had slaves to labor in
felling trees.

AFTER THE WAR. 103
mill, which serve for the employment of many, is be
ginning lo be heard morning, noon, and night. Things
begin to wear a Northern aspect considerably. The
log-cabin begins to disappear in some places, giving
vvay to houses of modern construction. The broad,
long handle Southern hoe is giving place to a more
modern make. This improvement is more or less seen,
except among the class that bought and sold human
flesh, and obtained their living from the bones
and sinews of others. But how have the ex-slave-
holders-^lhat is, including all of them in the South —
treated the freed people since the great rebellion of
1861 .? The colored people of the South have suffered
every thing, even death itself Some were violently
beaten, or rudely scourged ; many were deliberately
shot down in open day, on the public streets ; others
were way-laid and cruelly butchered, and some, God
only knows the fate they have suffered. There has
been an awful destruction of human life. The
streets have been drenched with their blood, for 'it
has flown freely. Many worthy and willing hands
were left without employment, while others worked
for a mere pittance to gel their living, while still others
toiled on as formerly, without any agreement or prob
ability of due return. When the civil rights bill vvas
passed, April 9th, 1866, the condition of the colored
people was ameliorated in many instances.
During the Rebellion some were driven from their
cabins during the absence of their owners, who were
on the battle field. The cabins, many of them, were
stripped of all their contents, leaving the occupants
nothing. Oh ! how many have suffered malice and re-

104 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
venge — the bitter wrath and vengeance of those who
justly shared the disappointments and misfortunes at
tending the overthrow of slavery and rebellion.
My brother is doing well, and has bought himself a
nice farm, from which he raises crops every year. He
is a Baptist preacher ; and, besides presiding over his
own church, he has the oversight of the Lancaster
Baptist Church, in Lancaster County; thus supplying
two churches, the Northumberland, and the Lancas
ter churches. My younger sister, who resides in
Wycomco, in Northumberland County, Va,, has four
or five children ; and, through her and her husband's
industry, have procured a small farm, from which they
have obtained principally the support of their family.
During my repealed visits to Heathsville I have car
ried boxes of clothing and a large trunk closely packed
for the benefit of the freedmen and their families.
The little sacks and other children's clothes were pre
sented to mothers whose little children stood in great
nEed of them, and were very thankfully received,
" God bless the friends of the North," was the hearty
exclamation of many, I found the colored people
industriously employed in doing something, and thus
they seemed contented and happy.
In December, 1879, during my visit, I went down to
Fairfield, some five or six miles from Heathsville, where
1 had learned ray trade, and found the old place much
dilapidated. The fields from which Were raised corn
and wheat were all grown over with thick forests.
The " great house " had been burned to the ground.
Mrs. Winsted had passed from time into eternity to
try the realities of the other world. The shop that

AFTER THE WAR,

105

I used to work in had been lorn down, and desolation
seemed to mark the place. The foot of the war horse
had been there, I lender my thanks to the kind
friends of Norwich for their generous gifts.

106 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. S.MITH,

CHAPTER IX,

CONCLUSION.
The Fifteenth Amendment Celebration — 1'lie parade — Address-
Collation — Charles L. Remond — Closing words.

ROM 1867 to 1869 great changes were taking
place in the government. Amendments to
the Constitution were being made ; among
them was the fifteenth amendment. When that was
passed the colored Americans of Norwich called a
meeting and passed a resolution proposing lo celebrate
that great event. In May, 1870, we appointed a com
mittee to arrange for the same. I was appointed chair
man of that committee. A motion was made lo ex-
lend a call to the Hon. Charles L, Remond, of Boston,
to deliver the oration. The motion was unanimously
passed lo that effect.
The Fifteenth Amendment Celebration look place on
June 16th, 1870. At early dawn the booming of the
cannon was heard from the distant hill, that aroused
the participants to the more arduous duties of the day.
The din and smoke reminded one of the war, where
our veterans fought so creditably. The first part of

CONCLUSION. 107
the morning the weatlier did not look very favorable
for us. There vvas a misty appearance in the air, but
as it advanced tow.ards ten o'clock that hazy look wore
off, and the half-veiled sun shone in all its splendor.
On that eventful morning the committee of arrange
ments labored faithfully to make the affair a success,
for it was a scene of bustling activity. Flags that bore
the national colors, and banners bearing mottoes ap
propriate for the occasion vvere waving in the breeze-
Every effort vvas made by some lo make it a failure,
but their plans vvere frustrated by our eminent citizens.
When undertaking a good project for our fellow-men,
we are often defeated by our enemies. In this we
almost lost our balance, which we soon regained in
our full strength, and vve came off victorious, to the
astonishment of our opposers.
The generous contributions of the citizens, by way
of provisions and money for the celebration, evinced
their appreciation of our efforts ; the arrangement re
flected great credit upon those who had it in charge.
The procession formed on Franklin Square, headed hy
the Norwich Brass and String Bands, proceeded from
the Square up Washington Street, down Broadway, up
Franklin Street, thence "to Rockwell's Grove, where a
platform was erected, upon which sat the speaker of
the day, and a few of our leading citizens. One feature
of the procession that attracted much attention, was a
tastefully decorated car, drawn by two horses, filled vvith
young ladies dressed in while, bearing aloft the banner
of beauty and glory. The selectmen, common council,
clergy, and other citizens participated in the celebra
tion, and helped lo swell the number.

108 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L, SMITH,
A goodly number stood beneath the trees in the
shady grove, and fanned by the gentle breeze that came
laden with the perfume of peaceful fields, under the
canopy of the deep blue heavens, listened lo the oration
of the Hon, Charles L. Remond. The exercises open
ed wilh prayer by one of our citizens, invoking the
blessings of Heaven upon all. After which Mr. Re
mond proceeded in a raost able and eloquent manner
to review, in fine style, the most important incidents
connected with the event vve had met to celebrate.
His theme vvas : " The .Advancement of the Colored
People." He referred to the present condition and
future prospects of my people. Every word was spark
ling, brilliant, convincing and touching, and was re
ceived wilh great applause. His speech was full of
thoughts that breathe, and words that burn, and was
listened to with marked attention and interest.
After the address vvas a collation, to which the peo
ple did ample justice. The long tables were arranged
wilh much taste, by competent hidies, and others, who
had them in charge. It vvas an enjoy.able occasion for
every one present. The Norwich Brass Band played
in fine style the pleasing national airs; among them
were " Hail, Columbia," and the " Star Spangled Ban
ner," which always stir up the patriotism of every true
American, and were loudly encored. It vvas an event
long to be remembered in the hearts of my people, and
is one of the greatest and brightest events that has
ever occurred in our history as a people, and should be
handed down from generation to generation. We ten
der our thanks to the citizens of Norwich, for their
generosity and kindness in aiding us in the great and
good cause.

CONCLUSION, 109
IN MEMORIAM,
The Hon, Charles L, Remond is no more, for his
earthly career is ended. By hie untiring energy he
became one of our first men, and advanced, step by
step, till he became a custom house officer at Boston.
His well-known qualifications as a man were more than
of ordinary mark, and well fitted him for the position
and duties which he was called to fill. He always
wielded his pen for the benefit of his people. As an
orator, he has had few equals. His pen has carried
light and comfort lo many a household of my people.
He was one of the pioneers of the anti-slavery move
ment in its earliest days, when agitation was at its
height. Let his honored name be held in grateful re
membrance, to be handed down from posterity to pos
terity. Dear reader, this simple story of my life is no record
of bold events, that vvith the multitude constitute the
hero ; no tell tale of fiction to draw on the imagination.
It is a story that is real, that is earnest ; and if it
touches the simple heart that has power lo sympathize
with the unfortunate in times of .idversity, and lo
mingle in the joys that come to the after life, giving
peace and satisfaction to the soul, it will accomplish its
purpose, I have hesitated in this work, feeling that
ordinarily the experiences of the individual life are
sacred, and that the bitterest and the best belong to
one's own self, and can never be felt by another. But
there are lives whose experiences the public have a
right to know; lives wrought out in the interest bf
some great cause, or so linked to the progress of hu-

I 110 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L, SMll 11.
manity that they modify and mould its destiny. The
life that is buoyant vvith hope, living perpetually in
' God's sunshine, realizing every thing that is sweet in
; existence, has little in it that touches the chord of
j sympathy, and no necessity calls for its revealment
Yet there are those in toils and trials that reap an ex
perience that, when made known, unfold a lesson of
admonition and comfort lo others. Life's ways, in
this regard, are so mysterious that we are dumb to the
inquiry : " Why is it so .?" Yet, flov^'ing out of this,
we see the Guiding Hand preparing us for better things,
moulding us for a better life. The slave-life of which
this little volume so largely treats is analagous to this.
No mystery was ever deeper than that which shrouds
the path by which raen were led into bondage, and no
system was ever more cruel and intolerant than that
which inflicted stripes and burdens upon men, without
cause, and deprived them of liberty and the right to
life. Yet when vve look back upon God's dealings wilh
his early people, and see how they wrought in bondage
and suffered in their wanderings from it, it reveals Hi's
power of bringing good out of evil, light out of dark
ness, and becomes a school of wisdom to the world.
So the first slave ship that crossed the ocean, with its
stolen fruits of life and liberty, of bone and muscle, of
sinew and nerve, of flesh and spirit, bore tidings of
sorrow and wretchedness to generations, whom, yet
through the darkness and gloom of two centuries the
Great Disposer of all events saw the end. We are yet
unable lo see it. The wail of the bondman toiling in
the brake, or under the scourging lash must have a
significance in the work of civilization, or God is not
wise or just.

CONCLUSION. Ill
The filling up of their years with misery and degra
dation must mean something more than an event of
fate, else there is no law of progress that bears men on
through storm, tumult and tempest to tlie goal of peace.
We are just crossing the bitter waters, and can scarcely
see our landing; we are not safe over, yet we hope to
escape the storms that are still beating upon us, and
moor our bark on the shore of freedom. Dear friend,
read this simple story carefully, and ponder its lessons.
What if it had been your child, stolen from your home,
borne to a foreign shore, doomed to such a life, and
destined to become the progenitor of a race bound to
toil and woe, vvould not your heart flow in sympathy
with the weakest of that race who should come to you
in sorrow ? But, say you, the day of trial is over, the
stream of syrrvpalhy~raay~be dried up because of the
nominaTTreed'omlhat has been vouchsafed. I say to
yoiTiiay ; my whole race is yet in peril, and God only
knows the end. The love of gain, the lust of power
is still dominant, and ceases not to inflict their burdens
and enforce their demands.
Sorrowing at the situation, pained at the necessity
which yet drives our brethren from pillar to post, or
binds them lo the wicked caprices of their old masters,
yet we appreciate the open hearts that welcome them
to new. homes, and the willing hands that minister to
their dire necessities. We have yet much to ask of
others ; we have much raore to accomplish for our
selves. What has been wrought in the past can not be
overcome at once. Gradually the work of demoraliza
tion doi;s its work, and not much swifter must be the
work of regeneration. We can not save ourselves with-

112 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH,
QuLfl-id and— sympaJdijL-from.otliezs.; without the pro
tection of just laws and righteous judgment ; others
can rToFsave us vvithout our aid — without the consecra
tion of all our best faculties to the work before us.
Let us, then, work mutually in unfolding the mysteries
of that Providence which is not only bringing us up
out of bondage, but which is to redeem the whole race
of mankind from the gloom of darkness and the Ihrall-
dom of sin.
With these thoughts I leave, asking you to give your
hearts to wisdom, restraining yourselves frora selfish
ness, and living for the good of others. There has
been enough of pain, and sorrow, and despair. The
whole current of life raust be changed, and men be
taught no longer to hedge the way of others, but to
scatter sunbeams, solar sunbeams ; the sunbeams of
life in their path.

COLORED MEN DURING THE WAR. 113

CHAPTER X.

COLORED MEN DURING THE WAR.
In battle — Kindness to Union men — Devotion to the Union —
29th Conn. — Its departure — Return — The noble Kansas troops
— 54th Mass. — Obedience to orders.
T is a fact to be lamented that the historians
of our country speak so little about the he
roic deeds of the colored troops ; in fact, by
some no mention is made of them at all ; but, let it be as
it may, the fact that they, after many petitions to be al
lowed to take their place in the ranks, fought bravely.
and well, lives in the heart of every true American
citizen. Many were the commendations they received
from their officers. Look at them at Fort Pillow, Mil-
liken's Bend, Port Hudson, Fort Wagner and Olustee !
Where do we find them ; In places of most imminent
danger, where the battle raged hottest, closing up
where their ranks were thinned out before a reeking
fire of graoe and canister.
" Cannon to the right of them I
Cannon to the left of them !
Onward they went,
' Noble black regiment !' "

114 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
The black man went into the war with but one de
termination : that once learning the use of arms, he
would never again be made a slave. Whether he ever
enjoyed the blessed privileges of freedom himself it
mattered little to him so that his race derived the bene
fits. Says one officer : " I never saw men more will
ing to sacrifice themselves on the 'altar of their
country ' than those in the 8th U. S., of which I have
command." Says a captain of another colored com
pany : " I never saw a more heroic company of men in
my life." And thus it might be said of raany other
colored regiments that went into the field. None were
ever known to flee when the hour of battle was nigh ;
nay, rather it was as much as the officers could do to
restrain them till the order to fire should be given.
The slaves had it in their power, when their masters.
were away to the war, to kill their defenceless wives
and children, raany of whom had been left in their
care. How often has the case been when the master,
just before leaving his home, has called to him his
most faithful servant and left in his charge those most
dear to him ; and I have known cases where silver
ware and other valuables have been stowed away in
some old cabin till "mar's comes back." Ah! the
slave-holder knew the slaves could be trusted — a fact
which the North was not long in finding out, even be
fore il tried the experiment of organizing them into
troops. A Union soldier being wounded, probably left in the
woods 16 die, having wandered about under cover of
night, at last falls upon the cabin of some old "'aunty."
.A. sense of safety and security steals over him, for he

COLORED MEN DURING THE WAR. 115
knows that no power on earth could make her betray
him. I copy an extract of a letter, showing the kind
ness of the slaves towards the Union soldiers, lo which
raany of them can testify :
" ADVENTURES OF TWO ESCAPED PRISONERS, AND THE HELP
THEY RECEIVED FROM THE SLAVES IN THE PERILOUS
VOYAGE THENCE TO KNO.XVILLE, TENNESSEE,
" Two Union officers, Lieut. Col. Thomas J. Leigh, of the 71st
New York, and Lieut. Tincker, of Indiana, had made their escape
from the prison stockade at Columbia, S. C. They traveled two
nights, and got within three miles of Lexington, when they met a
couple of slaves, and asked them the direction to Ninety-Six Sta
tion. They pointed out to the officers the road, and asserted posi
tively that ' they were their friends, and when they wanted assist
ance they must crawl up to the fields about dusk, and wait for a
field hand to come along ; and they would furnish them with pro
visions, and never betray them.' On the fifth night of their jour
ney they were making north-west for Knoxville, Tenn. On the
evening of the sixth day they ventured cautiously to a plantation
where they saw a large number of hogs in a field running toward
them as though they expected to be fed, and they judged from this
that a slave would soon come and feed them. They were right in
their conjecture, for in a few moments a slave came along with a
basket on his head, with com for the hogs. Col. Leigh called to
him, and. as he came up to him, questioned him ' if he would
betray him ? ' The slave replied : ' No ; the negroes in that part
of the country did not do that sort of thing.' He said : ' You
must be hungry ? ' The officer replied : ' That was what I hailed
you for.' The slave advised him ' to wait about an hour, and he'll
have lots to eat.' He then started for the house, and in about an
hour came back, along with several other slaves, all carrying eata
bles—chicken, possum, rice and shortcake — sufficient to last a two
days' journey. As it began to rain, the slaves advised them ' to
lay still that night, and it would clear up before morning.' Both
of the officers took their advice, and they kept them company all
night.

116 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
" They were very anxious about the state of affairs. They asked
the officers ' if they thought Jeff. Davis was going to give the slaves
arms ;' and then said that their ' masters had made propositions to
them, that if they would take up arms and fight for the .South, they
would be free.' One of the officers asked them 'if they would
fight against the North ? ' They promptly replied : ' Only let them
give us arms, and we will show them which side we will fight for.'
They said : ' We have now some arms hid ;' and wanted to know
' if, when they were formed into companies and regiments, whether
they could be together, and t.alk with one another.' He told them
' Certainly.' One slave remarked : ' My master offers me my free
dom if I will take up arms, but I have a family — a wife and five
children — and he does not offer to free them ; and we have come
to the conclusion that there is no use in fighting for our freedom
when any one of our children we may have are to be made slaves.'
He felt that he could not himself enjoy the blessings of freedom
while his own wife and children toiled in hopeless bondage. Con
tinued he : ' When we get the use of arms, and are permitted to
be together in regiments, we can demand freedom for our families,
and take it.' Another one remarked ' that their masters did not
venture to whip them now ; that they were fed on a little better
food than before the war, and they believed this was only done to
humor them and keep them quiet.
"They departed the next morning, wishing the slaves 'good
luck,' and they replying ' God bless you,' which is a very common
expression in that portion of the country. They then pursued
their journey, without any thing worthy of note happening, until
they arrived in the Pickens District, S. C, on a plantation of Dr.
Earl, who was publicly known to be a secessionist. Here they
were in the midst of a large number of slaves of his plantation, and
others, discussing the arrival of Gen. Sherman, at Augusta, Ga.
" It appeared that they had in a secret manner sent one of their
number in haste towards Hamburg, lo get fresh information about
Sherman, with the intention, on the arrival of the courier, to make
a general stampede into the Union lines. They counted on be
tween five and eight thousand slaves, who consented to go with
them. All of these men treated the officers very kindly, and gave
them a large supply of provisions. They told them • to stop at

COLORED MEN DURING THE WAR. 117
the home of John W. Wilson, a strong Union man.' Accord
ingly, the next evening about half-past nine o'clock. Col. Leigh
knocked at Wilson's door ; he came, holding a revolver in his
hand, and demanded to know who they were. They told him
that 'they were escaped Union officers.' After hearing (his, he
invited them into his house, and treated them very cordially. He
informed them of the re-election of President Lincoln, and as they
were about leaving him, went kindly with them to the middle of,
the road, where they all gave three cheers for Abraham Lincoln.
" Being properly directed on their course, they reached Bumcomb
County, in Western North Carolina, There they saw a woman
in a field plowing ; she informed them that in that County, and
also in Henderson and Madison Counties, there were over five hun
dred men who had been conscripted — enrolled militia-men — her
husband among the number, who, refusing to join the Confederate
army, lay concealed in caves in the woods. The country is ran
sacked by Rebel details, who plunder the defenceless women and
children, and shoot the men if found in the woods. In traveling
over a distance of one hundred and thirty miles, across the moun
tains, a scene of great destitution prevailed ; women performed
the duties of men ; the children had no shoes, and the country
seemed given up to entire lawlessness. The remainder of their
journey was executed solely under the guidance of women, and
on the evening of December 13th they reached Knoxville, having
spent forty- four days in their perilous travels,"
Many a soldier has been carefully nursed by slaves,
and sent back to the army a well man. It will be seen,
moreover, that the slave was no respecter of persons, as
in this instance : A slave mother, who, on bidding her
son "God speed," on his way to the war, exclaimed:
" If you see Mar's, pick him out de fust one, ' The
name "Yankee," to these poor, depressed people meant
freedom, and they were never known lo turn their
hand against a blue coat.
At the beginning of the war many black men went
as servants, and at times of battle begged for a bayo-

118 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
net, and took their places in a compatiy. How many
brave souls perished this way will never be known till
the judgment. History has made no note of them,
though they died riddled with bullets, with the bayo
net grasped firmly in the hand.
Some of the slave-holders offered their slaves free
dom if they would join the Confederate army. Says
one : " I have a wife and children in slavery ; he don't
say a word about freeing them. No, sir, I don't fight
unless they can be free, too." Others, on being inter
rogated as " to what they 'd do if arras were put in
their hands, whether they vvould fight for the South,"
replied : " Let them give us arms, we '11 show them
which side we fight for." And so, at last, when the ex
periment was tried, whether the black man would run
in battle, il was soon found out which side they were
determined lo fight for.
JAs soon as it was made known that colored volun
teers would be accepted they came pouring in from all
sections. In Norwich a regiment was soon formed,
(29th Conn,,) which did good service in the field.
Never did we feel prouder than when, after a few
weeks' encampinent in New Haven, they marched away
wilh flying banners and marshal music.
Some of the ladies of color instituted a Ladies' Aid
Society, which met once a week at the houses of its
different members to make up both fancy and useful
articles, as they intended to hold a fair in one of the
largest halls in the place — the proceeds of which were
lo be devoted to getting up a box for the brave 2gt\Q
There was in it almost every conceivable delicacy that
could be imagined, that would bring delight lo any one

COLORED MEN DURING THE WAR. 119
far away from home and longing for its luxuries.
There were also useful and needy articles, put up by
loving hands, for the brave boys who had given their
lives for their country. Some few of them lived lo re
turn. In the severe fighting before Petersburg raany
found an early grave.
The fair was held for one week, at Breed Hall,
which was most handsomely decorated with flags and
banners. The tables were arranged around the hall.
and fairly crowded upon them were articles of every
description. Many thanks are due lo those who so
well patronized us. Many influential families sent in
contributions, both of money and articles lo help the
cause. Too much can not be said of the members of
the society for their untiring zeal— how they mefj,
through storm and rain — nothing deterred them from
their work. If, at limes, their spirits seemed to flag,
thoughts of the brave agth, at their dangerous posti
stirred them up wilh renewed vigor. The fair netted
a handsome profit. The box vvas quickly made ready,
and sent on its way.
We have the surely that the box reached its destina
tion from the following extract of a letter written by
E. C. Green lo an officer of the regiment. It reads
thus :
* * » ¦• Before closing, may I refer you to the pleasure
you gave to the ladies of our Soldiers' Aid Society, a year since.
in allowing them to furnish your regiment with a box of hospital
supplies, and say to you, if your supplies are at present insufficient,
we would be glad to forward another box of similar articles, if
your surgeon would have the pleasure of sending us a list of arti
cles needed. With much esteem.
Yours, very truly,
K. C. GREEN."

120 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH, i
DEPARTURE OF THE BRAVE TWENTY-NINTH, CONN.
At two P. M. the regiment stood in waiting. A few
moments after, a carriage containing Major General
Russell, Major Tyler, Major Wayland, and Alderman
Marble, drove up in front of the regiment ; every man
of which stood erect and manly as if conscious of what
was before him. A handsome flag vvas presented by
Miss Diantha Hodge, to whom Col. Wooster respond
ed in a soldier-like speech ; after which the order was
given, and they marched off by the right flank, amid
the cheers of the assembled crowds, and the farewells
of old friends. Cheer after cheer came from the lips
of the men, as they saw the stars and stripes floating to
the breeze along the line of march. The regiment
leaked on the old Green for an hour, waiting for the
tide to rise lo, enable the steamer Warrior to near the
wharf ; then the line of march was resumed down
Chapel Street to State, down Stale to the wharf. At
six o'clock the regiment marched on board, wilh orders
to report at the depot of the ninth army corps, at
Annapolis, Md.
Reaching this place they found themselves any thing
but comfortable — a sharp, raw north-east wind prevail
ing. The tents did not arrive till nearly dark ; these
were hastily pitched and occupied. In the morning
they awoke to find themselves covered with from one
to three feet of snow. Crackling, blazing camp-fires
were built, and around them cheerful, blue-coated dark
skins gathered, full of wit and humor. jOn the 27th of
April, 1864, the regiment left for the front. Its suffer
ings in the bloody struggle before Richmond were ter
rible and heart-rending. It went into the fight of eleven

COLORED MEN DURING THE WAR. 121
hours with four hundred and fifty brave, armed and
equipped men ; it came out with one hundred and
eighty men, all told— no field officers, and one wounded
company officer, THEIR RETURN,
On the morning of Oct, 14th, 1865, orders vvere re
ceived to prepare to be mustered out of the U, S, ser
vice, Oct, i6lh the boys bade good-bye to hard-tack,
salt horse, and other delicacies known nowhere but in
the army. They embarked on board the steamer,
singing " Homeward Bound." After reaching New
York they embarked for Hartford, where they would be
paid off, and receive their discharge papers. Here
they were met by the Mayor and a committee, and
marched up to Central Row, headed by Colt's Brass
Band, where they stacked arms and unslung knap
sacks ; then the battalion formed, in two ranks and
marched to the City Hall, where a splendid feast
awaited IhemTT
On entering the hall the first thing to be seen was
the " Star Spangled Banner," extended across the hall,
and in the centre a banner, bearing the following;
" Welcome, 29th C. V. ;" " Deep Bottom," " Straw
berry Plains, Va.," "Siege of Petersburg," ".New
Market Heights," " Dan berry Town Road," " Chapin 's
Farm," " Fair Oaks." At the head of the banner was
an evergreen wreath, prepared by the ladies. On the
stand were the busts of Lincoln and others.
After feasting, they were ordered to march to Cen
tral Row, where they learned the 31st, U. S. C. I. had
just arrived. The 29th and 31st then formed in a
square on State House Square, where they were ad-

122 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
dressed by Mayor Stillman ; afterwards, by His Ex
cellency, Gov. Buckingham. After a few remarks from
Col. Wooster and Gen. Hawley, the 31st were escorted
to the City Hall, where a breakfast awaited them.
The 29lh were then dismissed.
THE NOBLE KANSAS TROOPS.
On the 29th of Oct, 1862, twenty-four men of the
rsl Regiment of Kansas, Colored Volunteers, having
advanced beyond the limits prescribed, vvere charged
upon by one hundred and twenty of the Rebel cavalry.
There was a desperate hand-to-hand encounter.
There was no flinching ; no hesitating ; no trembling
of limb. Each man saw exactly how matters stood,
and, with calm precision, made every stroke tell.
Finally re-inforcements came up. Out of the twenty-
four men only six escaped unhurt. The Rebels were
armed with shot-guns, revolvers and sabres ; our men
with Austrian rifles and sabre bayonets. This last is
a fearful weapon, and did terrible execution. Six
Killer, the leader of the Cherokee negroes, shot two
men, bayoneted a third, and laid the fourth with the
butt of his gun. Another was attacked by three men.
He discharged his rifle and had no lime to load again.
When asked to surrender, he replied by a stunning
blow from the butt of his rifle, which knocked the
Rebel off his horse.
So ended the battle of Island Mounds, which re
sulted in a complete victory to the negro regiment. Il
has been found out that black men make splendid
soldiers— that they are anxious to serve their country
and their race. No one can point the finger of scorn

COLORED MEN DURING THE WAR. 123
at the Kansas troojis and say they were cowards ; yet
four months passed and they were not mustered — still
they adhered to their organization through every dis
couragement and disadvantage. Chances of recogni
tion vvere slim. They demanded of the military au
thorities lo be either accepted or disbanded.
The 1st North Carolina Regiment was commanded
by Col, James C, Beecher, brother of the Rev, H, W,
Beecher, Their camp was on the south ,side of the
Neuse River, The ground had been enclosed by the
men so that the locality presented quite a neat appear
ance. Col. Beecher thus writes to his friends :
* * * "I wish doubtful people at home could see
my three weeks' regiment. They would talk less nonsense about
negro inferiority. Our discipline is to-day better than that of any
regiment I know of ; and I believe, by the blessing of God, out
efficiency will be second to none.''
A little later he says :
* * * " My regiment is a ' buster,' improves every day ;
and such a line of battle as we form ! It would make your eyes
shine to see these six weeks' soldiers going through a dress parade.
A month later the regiment is considered ready for a fair fight."
Towards the last of July they left Newbern for
Charlestown, and were put lo digging trenches, gelling
only a lull occasionally on the beach by moonlight.
It was quite a romantic scene — the hard, white beach ;
the ocean waves splashing along the sand ; the long line
of black soldiers, their guns shining in the moonlight.
They had a great desire to learn ; and, although the
digging went on, the officers would instruct them at
night in the speller, so th^t before they went to Florida
three hundred of them had learned to read and write.

124 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
Much has been said about the bravery oflheS4th
Mass. On one occasion it saved a whole brigade from
being captured or annihilated. The lamented Col.
Shaw was one of its commanders. At Fort Wagner,
when the color sergeant fell, and our flag would have
been trailing in the dust, one of its noble boys seized
it, sprang upon the parapet, where he received three
severe wounds. When the order was given to retire,
the noble color bearer still held the flag in the air ;
and, with the assistance of his comrades, succeeded in
reaching the hospital, where he fell exhausted, saying :
"The old flag never touched the ground, boys."
There was a great deal of murmuring among the
friends of the regiment in Boston, because of state
ments reaching them that it was called upon lo per
form raore than its proportional part of dangerous
duty; and this seems true, since, in the most perilous
places there would be found the glorious 54th.
I mention a few facts lo show that the slaves were
so accustomed to obeying orders that they would fol
low out any instructions to the very letter. Il is said
that while General Grant was walking along the dock,
smoking, a colored guard carae up to hira and said :
" No smoking on this dock, sir." The General looked
at him and said : " Were those your orders .?" " Yes,
sir." " Very good orders," replied the General, smiling,
and throwing his cigar into the water. Again, a Rebel
picket offered a large piece of tobacco lo a colored
sentinel if he would give him one biscuit, or hard-lack
as it is called. "Against orders to exchange with you
Rebs.," he replied, and no entreaties would cause him
to swerve one iota from his instructions.

COLORED MEN DURING THE WAR. 125
\ Reb. vvas found by two colored pickets skulking
outside the Union lines. How he curped and swore
when he found that he must be brought into camp
under the surveillance of two black soldiers. He
refused lo stir one step ; " he 'd die on the spot first ;"
" Just as you please," replied the guard, " we take you,
dead or alive." The Reb. raved the raore, and said:
" It was enough to make his father rise up out of his
grave." When last seen he was marching into camp
at the point of the bayonet.
In consequence of the breaking of the Weldon R.
R. by Grant, much of the Rebel munitions of war
and supplies had to be run over a distance of sixteen
miles, and then transferred lo the cars. Every thing
that could be used for carrying purposes was pressed
into their service. Horses and mules were scarce in
the Confederacy, so, in many instances, negroes were
hitched to the wagons, and it was said made belter
lime than when horses were used. They would go on
their vvay, singing and joking; and, after a half-hour's
intermission at certain places, would push onward as
fresh and lively as ever.
The slaves were of great assistance to the Union
army on account of their thorough knowledge of the
country ; its ways and resources ; its wood, water, fuel,
game ; and also of the habits of the enemy. Nothing
escaped them. They 'd tell to-day what happened
yesterday thirty miles off; would risk their lives to
give any information which was to be of advantage to
the Union.
At Washington the contrabands, as they vvere termed
during the war, knew every inch of ground between

126

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH,

there and Richmond, and gave valuable information
for maps, engineering parties and reconnoisances.
Contraband pioneers, armed wilh sharp axes, would
go on expeditions through the woods, under cover of
the carbines of the cavalry, hewing away the heavy
timber, and preparing the road for the advance. Every
thing in the shape of a dog was k-illed. About the
plantations could be seen the lifeless bodies of blood
hounds whose deep baying would no longer be heard
about the swamps, indicating the close proximity of
pursuers.

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE WAR. 127

CHAPTER XI.

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE WAR.
The spirit of the South — Delaware — Kentucky — Meetings — Con
ventions — Gen. Wild's raid — Slave heroism — A reminiscence of
1863— Sherman's march through Georgia — Arming the slave.

HE spirit of the rebellion still shows itself in
many of the Slates. Its influences are plainly
manifested in the Stale of Delaware. In
my escape from the South I passed through this Slate.
How I ever succeeded, without being detected, I can
not tell to this day. Nothing but the mercy of the
Lord ever carried me through. Here, in the height
of slavery, I went on board the boat at New Castle,
and no white man questioned me as lo my whereabouts,
or asked for my pass. As for the town of New Castle,
the very atmosphere seemed tainted with slavery.
The feeling was most bitter in Odessa, during 1865,
against persons of color from the North giving lectures
in the town. On one occasion a mob of white ruffians
surrounded a colored church, showering stones and
bricks at the doors and windows, , swearing that the
meeting should be dismissed. One of the local laws
of the State says that : " Any negro or mulatto
coming into the State, who is a non-resident of the

128 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
locality he may visit, is liable lo a fine of fifty dol
lars, six month's imprisonment, and twenty-five lash
es." Learning of this, they concluded to dismiss the
meeting. March 4th, 1865, Maj. Gen. Palmer issued an order
that : " All slave pens, and other private establishments
for confining persons in Louisville, be suppressed ; and
all confined persons discharged, except such as have
committed crimes." A colored police officer brought
out many an innocent man and woman. Some had
iron bars on their legs, reaching frora the hip to the
ankle and fastened on with iron straps.
There was a time in the history of Kentucky when
colored men, women and children found upon the
highways after dark were surrounded" by the city guard,
and flogged by them in the public streets. In Louis
ville the Rev. Mr. James called a meeting at which
delegates were appointed lo hold an interview with the
President, calling his attention to a few of the laws
which bore so heavily on our race : First, they had no
oath ; second, they had no right of domicile ; third,
no right of locomotion ; fourth, no right of self-de
fence; fifth, a statute of Kentucky makes it a penal
crime, with imprisonment in the penitentiary for one
year, for any freeman of color, under any circumstan
ces, lo pass into a free State, even for a moment. Any
freeman, not a native, found within her borders is sub
ject to the same penalty ; and for the second offence
shall be a slave for life.
In'r865 the first delegation of colored men that ever
left Kentucky, on a mission of liberty, started for Wash
ington 10 accomplish the noble work entrusted to their

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE WAR. 129
hands. The interview was satisfactory, the President
assuring them that the government would yield them
every protection, and that the martial law would con
tinue till the Kentuckians should learn raore truly their
position, and their duty to the nation.
The first free convention in the Slate of Virginia,
during a period of two hundred and fifty-five years,
was held in Alexandria, at the Lyceura Building.
Fifty delegates were present. Addresses were made
by Geo. W. Cook, of Norfolk ; Peter R. Jones, of
Petersburg ; and Nicholas Richmond, of Charlottes
ville. THE CELEBRATION OF THE FOURTH OF JULY
IN LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.
For the first time the people celebrated this day as
a free people. Extensive preparations were made.
There was a great out-pouring of people. They came
from the factories, the work-shops and the fields lo en
joy themselves in the pure, fresh air of freedom. The
procession was formed in the following manner :
123rd U. S. C. I. — eight hundred strong.
Band.
Fifth St. Sabbath School— Asbury Chapel S. S.— Quinn Chapel
S. S.— Jackson St. S. S.— Green St. S. S.—
York St. S. S.— Centre St. S. S.
Band.
Government Employees, one hundred and fifty — Sons of Union —
West Union Sons — Sons of Honor — United Brothers of
Friendship — United Fellows.
Car tastefully decorated, drawn by four horses, filled with misses,
representing the Fifth St. Baptist Aid Society.
Car representing the Original aid Society in Kentucky.
The Colored Ladies' Soldier's and Freedman's Aid Society.
Car filled with working men, plying the saw, plane,
hammer and mallet.
125th U. S. C. I. — six hundred strong.
Band.

130 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMll II.
Fully ten thousand persons marched in the proces
sion, and ten thousand more assembled on the ground.
A sumptuous dinner was prepared for the soldiers,
after which the speaking began. Addresses were made
by David Jenkins, J. M. Langston, Chaplain Collins
and Lieut. Ward. When Gen. Palmer appeared such
a shout ag went up was enough to bring all the invisi
ble sprites and spirits from their hiding places. As
soon as it became quiet he began. His speech was
continually applauded. He finished amid rounds of
applause, banners waving, and the band playing the
" Star Spangled Banner." That night the heavens
were ablaze with rockets, fiery serpents and blue lights.
GEN. wild's raid.
During a march, when our troops neared a planta
tion, the slaves would eagerly join them. In many in
stances in plundering the houses slaves were found
locked up. Continually during this raiding expedition
slaves came pouring in from the country in every di
rection, with their household furniture, thronging the
lately deserted streets. This expedition was to search
out guerrillas, lurking about the neighborhood of Eliza
beth City and firing on our pickets. A force of colored
men fell on their camp. There was a hasty escapade,
and the soldiers came in possession of fire-arms and
horses. Leaving Elizabeth City, they passed by vast
fields of corn a mile in extent, commodious looking
buildings and magnificent plantations. Here the troops
commenced to work in earnest, and became an army
of liberation.
On the first plantation they found fourteen slaves.

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE WAR. 131
who gladly joined them. An old wagon was found, to
which a horse was harnessed. Such furniture as the
slaves needed was placed in it, and the women and
children on top. And so they went from house to
house, gathering together the slaves, and whatever
teams and horses could be found. Meanwhile, forag
ing went on, as there was an abundance of geese,
chickens and turkeys. All the planters were " Secesh,"
so no restrictions were placed on the troops. The line
of march continued, the contraband train continually
growing in length.
At Indian Town bridge Gen. Wild came upon a
guerrilla camp. His men started upon the "double
quick," and pursued them through woods, across corn
fields, until they came lo a swamp. Here no path
whatever could be seen, and how the guerrillas suc
ceeded in covering their flight was, at first, a mystery ;
but our men were in for it now, and did not intend lo
turn back before ferreting out the matter. They began
a careful search, and soon found the trunk of a felled
tree, well worn vvith footsteps. Near by was another,
then another till they made quite a zig-zag footpath
across the swamp. This solved the mystery. This,
without doubt, led to the guerrilla quarters. Going
single file they came upon a small island, which had
been hastily evacuated — every thing was lying about in
great confusion. According to orders, the soldiers
burned the huts and took possession of whatever was
worth keeping. The slaves on the plantations, ahead
of the line, were notified by scouts to be ready to join
the train when it should pass. By the time it reached
Currituck Court House il was a mile in length. After

132 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
three weeks the entire expedition returned to Norfolk.
The raid was considered a very important one.
The tables were now turned. Those proud-hearted
planters, who claimed such strict obedience from their
slaves, now actually fell down on their knees before
these armed blacks and begged for their lives. The
great cry among them was : " What shall I do to be
saved .?" Yes, now they were ready to take the oath of
allegiance, give up their slaves ; any thing " to be
saved .?" Whole families ran to the swamps when they
heard that the raiders were near.
This raid put at rest forever the question as to
whether the negro troops vvere efficient in any part of
the service. They performed all the duties of while
soldiers — scouting, skirmishing, picket duty, guard
duly ; and, lastly, fighting. Gen. Wild had decided at
one time to attack a guerrilla camp. With the excep
tion of thirty-five men, who were loo lame to march,
every raan wanted to go and fight the guerrillas, not
withstanding those could remain back who wished to
do so. A hundred men, however, were needed to
guard the camp. No persuasions could induce them
lo volunteer to remain ; so at last Gen. Wild was obliged
to detail the required number for this duty. Did any
one ever think that the men who had been accustomed
to hunt runaway slaves in the swamps of the South
vvould now be hiding there themselves, be hunted by
them ? Mysterious are thy ways. Oh, Lord !
When the rebellion first broke out a great raany peo
ple thought "now the slaves will make a grand rush
for the Northern side." They had prayed so long for

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE WAR. 133
liberty. Here it was, right in their hand ; but the
slaves didn't do any such thing. Remaining quiet, and
looking about to see how things on both sides were
moving, was the very means that saved thera. How
¦were they to contend wilh their raasters ? They had
no arms, nothing to fight with ; their masters had been
collecting implements of war for some time and the
slaves knew it ; knew where they were hid ; knew all
the lines of fortification which they had been compelled
to construct. Ah, the slaves were too wise lo run any
risk, with nothing but hoes in their hands. They said
nothing, saw every thing, and at the right time they
would give the Union valuable information. The
Rebels lost their cause, and why ? Because the slaves
were loyal to the government. If they had been dis
loyal, the Confederates would no doubt have won, or
else sorae foreign power might have intervened and
made trouble. As it is, the Rebs. owe an old grudge
to the freedman, as much as lo say : " It 's your fault
we did n't win." HEROISM OF A CONTRABAND.
It was just after the victory of the Excelsior Brigade
at Fair Oaks, when Gen. Sickels received word that
the enemy were advancing. Orders for preparation
for battle were given. At last all was in readiness for
the advance ; but only a few shots were to be heard in
the distance, otherwise every thing was quiet. What
did it mean .? The General asked Lieutenant Palmer
to take a squad of men with him and ride cautiously to
the first bend in the road; but he, too impetuous, rushed
daringly ahead till he was within range of the enemy.

134 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
He fell, pierced with bullets. His soldiers hastily re
treated to their carap and told their news. Among
the listeners was a negro servant of Lieut. Palmer, who
quietly withdrew and walked down that road — that
road of death — ^for after passing our picket guard he.
was openly exposed to the Rebel sharp-shooters. When
our soldiers came up, the faithful servant was found by
the side of his dead raaster. I regret that the name of
this heroic soul remains unknown lo the world — a
name worthy lo be emblazoned on the pages of history.
We used often to hear the question asked, "can the
negro take care of himself? If he is set free, to rely on
his own resources, will he not die of starvation .?" Let
us see, Al Pine Bluffs there was a full black, known as
Uncle Reuben. He was born in Georgia, and displayed
such energy, tact and devotion lo his master's interest
that he was lefl in full charge of every thing on the
plantation. The slave raised his master from poverty
to wealth. At last his raaster died, and his widow de
pended still more upon Uncle Reuben, placing all in
his hands. He became more ambitious, and succeed
ed so well that the number of cotton bales increased
every year. The children were sent North to school.
The white overseers became jealous of hira, and com
pelled his mistress to place a white, nominally over him.
However, he was not interfered with, and his mistress
treated him as kindly as she dared. Then the sons re
turned from the North, wilh no feelings of gratitude to
one who by his industry and prudence had educated
them, and amassed a fortune of one hundred and fifty
thousand dollars. Thank God, he lived to see free
dom's light, and after being assured that the Procla
mation was a fact, he came over lo us.

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE WAR. 135
A REMINISCENCE OF 1 863.
Probably no act — the Ku Klux system excepted — was
more distressing than the ever-to-be-reraembered riot
which occurred in New York city during the year of
1863. ( The mob spirit first manifested itself al a
meeting held in Boston, December 3d, i860, in observ
ance of the anniversary of the death of John Brown).
I can but look back and shudder at the great carnival
of blood. The mob commenced on the 10th of July,
and continued day and night for more than a week.
My heart aches when memory recalls that awful day,
when the whole city was in a state of insurrection.
The full force of the infuriated mob fell upon the black
man, the harmless, unpretending black raan, whose only
crime was that his skin vvas of a darker hue than his
white brethren ; that he came of a race which for more
than two hundred years has felt the sting of slavery in
its very soul. I know of no race that has undergone
more sufferings than the black race of America.
Brought here from our mother country, we have be
dewed the soil wilh our blood and tears. Unlike the
Indian, we leave vengeance to the Lord. " He will re
pay." In this riot hundreds of colored people were
driven from their homes, hunted and chased through
the streets like wild beasts. A sweet babe was brained
while holding up his little arms, and smiling upon his
murderers. Many little children were killed in this
manner. Strong men were dragged from their homes
and left dangling from some lamp post or tree, or else
slaughtered on the streets — their blood flowing in
streams down the pavements. Able-bodied men,
whose mangled bodies hung up lo lamp posts, were

136 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
in a great many instances burned to cinders. The
colored people were panic stricken and sought shelter
in out-of-the-way nooks and places ; but even then
some were discovered by the mob on their way to
a retreat and quickly dispatched ; hundreds flocked
lo the doors of police stations, prisons and jails, and
begged admittance. No colored man, woman or child
vvas spared if found. As a general thing, colored ten
ants occupy whole streets, so the raob knew pretty well
what localities to plunder. Pistol shots were fired
through the windows, murdering many al their homes
and by their firesides. This accounts for the great
loss of life, greater than if the people lived raore scat
tered. The police were not able to cope with the
raurderers though il is believed they did what they
could, going in companies of two or three hundred lo
such parts of the city as needed their protection most.
A most heartless transaction committed by these fiends,
was the destruction of the Colored Orphan Asylum,
after first robbing the liltle children of their clothing.
These helpless lambs were driven friendless upon the
world from the burning Asylum, which had been their
abode. The mob went on at a terrible rate.
My family were quietly seated at the table one bright
July morning when we were startled by the sudden
ringing of the door bell. Upon responding, we found
that a family wilh whom we were well acquainted had
succeeded in escaping from the city, and sought refuge
in our quiet suburb until quietness and peace should
reign, so as lo enable them lo return to their own
home. Oh ! ye people of the North, before you cen
sure too strongly the actions of the South, rid your

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE WAR. 137
own soil of that fiendish element which makes il an
opprobrium to call America " the land of the free and
the home of the brave."
Sherman's march through Georgia.
During Sherman's march frora Atlanta to Savannah,
raany thousands of slaves came into the ranks, all of
whom appeared overjoyed that " de Yanks had come."
It would often happen that he would encamp on the
plantations that planters had deserted. Here would
be found an abundance of the good things of this life,
of which the soldiers would readily partake. At one
place only the old, decrepit slaves were left. These
were half naked, and nearly starved ; they had been
told frightful stories about the cruelties of the Yankee
soldiers, and were as frightened as could be when the
army arrived. Upon being reassured that no harm
vvould be done thera, they were overwhelming in their
thanks lo Gen. Sherman for clothing and feeding them.
And thus it was; all along the march the most pa
thetic scenes would occur. Thousands of women, car
rying household goods, some with children in their
arms, all anxious lo join the column. When refused,
some most heart-rending scenes would take place; such
begging to be allowed lo go on to Savannah, where,
says one : " My chillens done been sold dese four
years ;" or to Macon to "see my boy," Gen, Sherman,
with great tact, succeeded in quieting thera, telling
them they would return for them some day and they
must be patient. An aged couple had been wailing
sixty years for deliverance. No one to see them at
work on the plantation vvould suppose that they were

138 autobiography of james l. smith,
any thing but satisfied with their condition. No mur
mur, no words of discontent ever passed their lips ;
they made no comments on the actions of runaway
slaves ; their master had no fears for them ; yet, could
he have seen the face of the woman when she heard
that the Yankees had come, he would have seen that
he had not read her heart aright. Such an expression
as her countenance assumed was terrible to behold.
" Bress de Lord," she exclaimed, " I expects to follow
them till I drop in my tracks." As her husband did
not see the situation of things as quickly as she did,
she angrily said : " What are you sitting dar fur, do n't
yer see de door open .? I 'se not waited sixty years for
nuttin'." It is said that no persuasions would prevail
upon her to remain where she had suffered so much,
and old as she was she would follow the army. This
is only one of the many hundred cases which con
stantly occurred during the war. This poorly en
lightened people all seemed to think that the Yankees
vvould come some time or other, and that their freedom
was the object of the war. This notion, I suppose,
they got from hearing their masters talk.
The Rebel leaders had their attention completely
absorbed by the vast preparations they were making
for carrying on the war, by the increasing of State
debts, etc. The question of arming the slaves, which
had been warmly debated at Richmond, was overlook
ed. The governors of the several Southern Slates had
also pondered this question as the only means lo save
the Confederacy, which under its various reverses, was
slowly but surely dying. The South knew it could not
hold out much longer. An intelligent mulatto in Ma-

recollections of the war. 139
con, Ga., who used to attend his master's store would
often make mention of such conversation as he over
heard between his master and some of the first men of
the city. They used to get together in the counting
room and say: "It was no use to fight the North any
longer ; the South would surely be whipped in the end,
and the best thing that could be done, would be to fix
up the old Union." When asked if these men talked
so on the public street, he replied : " No, sir." These
very men vvould go out on the street and talk wild about
"whipping the Yankees, the South never giving up,"
and a lot of other trash. It is said that the Rebels
so frightened their slaves, telling them stories of the
cruelties which vvould be practiced upon them if ever
they put themselves in the power of the Yankees that
the most ignorant knew scarcely which way to turn,
when the question of arming the slaves was discussed.
There was nothing said by the South about the reward
for their services. It rather looked upon them in the
same light as when they worked in the field; neither
was it prepared lo meet the various objections raised
by the- white soldiers, if compelled to fight with them,
side by side. So, as all parties could not be satisfied,
the matter was allowed lo drop, though I have no
doubt but that lo save herself, a few would have been
willing to have increased their forces, by accepting the
assistance of the slave.

140 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.

CHAPTER XII.

THE EXODUS.
Arrival of negroes in Washington — Hospitality of Washington
people— Suffering and privation — Education of the freedmen —
Causes of emigration— Cruelty at the South — Prejudice at the
North — Hopes for the future.
HE rebellion at length closed after a bloody
carnage of about four years. The manacles
of the slave had been burst asunder. Left
in abject poverty, he is suddenly thrown upon his own
resources for support. In many instances the ex-slave
holder employed his former slaves on his plantation,
paying thera certain wages; others hired their own
ground, and being perfectly farailiar with the raising
of cotton, sugar, corn and other grain, succeeded in
making quite a comfortable living, and having some
thing laid by " for a rainy day." But this was not to
last long. The peace of the quiet villages and towns
was soon disturbed by night-raiders. Law-abiding
citizens were torn from their beds at midnight, hung,
robbed and flogged. This was not alone confined to
black men, but while men also suffered. The cruel
ties inflicted upon both races during this " reign of
terror," are almost indescribable.

THE EXODUS. 141
This, together with the unjust treatment by the
planters in relation to paying wages, renting land, etc.,
forms the cause of the exodus. We read accounts of
where hundreds are leaving their native soil and be
ginning life anew in another clime. Whether they
will be able lo withstand the rigorous winters of the
West remains lo be seen. Already many have perished
from exhaustion and cold, not being sufficiently clad,
and being wholly without means to procure articles
necessary to their comfort. Yet when we look back
and see the wrongs heaped upon a poor, down-trodden
race we can not but cry : "On with the Exodus."
I had read of hundreds of freedmen leaving their
homes and starting for the West, but I never expected
to be an eye witness of such a scene. In December,
1879, while visiting Washington, preparatory to going
further South, there arrived at the depot from two to
three hundred freed people, among which were a num
ber of children. It seems their money gave out as
they reached Washington, and here they must remain
until means could be obtained to send them further on.
Here they were strangers; no where to go, near the
edge of evening, yet no where lo lay their heads, .^t
this crisis the Rev. Mr. Draper hearing of their situa
tion kindly offered them his church, (St. Paul, 8lh St.,
South Washington), till other arrangements could be
made. Here they vvere made as comfortable as possi
ble, and seemed pleased that they were under shelter.
I was told that quite a number had gone on some
weeks before, and that they were mostly men. This
last party had a majority of women, many of them go
ing on to meet their husbands. The people of Wash-

142 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L.. SMITH.
ington were very kind to the strangers, giving them
food and clothing in abundance. On the Sunday fol
lowing their arrival the pavements were blockaded for
squares, all anxious to get a peep at thera. The
church was not a large one, so to prevent confusion,
visitors vvere requested lo pass in one door and out of
the other.
Within, a novel sight presented itself; the gallery in
the rear of the church had the appearance of a nurse
ry. Children, from a two months' babe upwards, were
lying here and there upon the benches or under them,
fast asleep. Others were busily engaged in satisfying
the inner man. The day I was present there was a
reporter gathering scraps of information for his paper.
It was really interesting to hear some of them converse.
Many appeared to be quite intelligent ; says one : " Do
you suppose I'd leave ray little home, which I owned,
and go to a place I know nothing of, unless I was com
pelled to. 'Taint natur. We heard they killed a man
the day we left, dey was so mad, and in some places
dey lore up de track to keep us from leaving." Says
the reporter ; " Suppose you get to Indiana and you
find no work there ?" Answered : " Den I keeps going
till I finds il." They all seemed willing to work if
they could only find it to do.
Visitors, as they passed around, on coming to the
altar found two small baskets into which they could
drop as much money as they felt disposed. This was
to assist in defraying the expenses the rest of the jour
ney. As often as a certain amount was made up, they
vvould send away so many al a time.
There was among the company a white woman.

THE EXODUS. 143
whom at first I took to be a leader, as she seemed so
energetic, going out and begging proper clothing for
the most destitute, distributing food among thera, etc.
But upon conversing with her I found I was raistaken.
She assured me she was as much a part of the " Exo
dus," as the rest. That she received no better treat
ment at her home than the rest did, and she was glad
to get away. Sorae of the prominent lady members of
Sl. Paul's Chapel were most kind in their attentions to
the wanderers, leaving their own duties at home to
spend days in administering to their comfort ; and often
were the expressions, " God bless you, de Lord will
pay you back, honey,'' heard on all sides, I did not
have an opportunity to see them but once, for when I
went again I found they had gone ; and it is hoped
they have all found good, comfortable homes in that
land towards which their hearts had turned with so
much faith and hope.
TERRIBLE SUFFERING OF THE FREEDMEN AT
WASHINGTON.
A host of miserable women with children, besides
old, crippled and sick persons were driven out of Mary
land and sought refuge here. Those who were able to
work went out by the day to earn money wilh which
to pay a rent of from five lo six dollars for some old
shanty, garret, cellar or stable. Hundreds of old per
sons and children were without shoes and stockings,
and were badly frost-bitten. Infants, only a few days
old, without a garment, perished with cold. Very few
of the older persons had any under-garments, for they
came from Maryland, and Virginia clothed in rags;

144 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
very few had comfortable beds and household utensils.
The children died off rapidly. During the hot weather
the quartermaster's department furnished about eighty
j coffins per week, mostly for children. "In slavery,"
\ the mothers say, " our children never dies ; it 'pears
\ like they all dies here." One family lost five out of
j ten children ; another, three out of seven. Sleeping
on the shanty and stable floors during the winter
brought on colds and pulmonary diseases which termi
nated the lives of hundreds. The ladies of the District
vvere indefatigable in their efforts lo relieve them.
Those in Springfield, Mass,, kindly solicited aid for
these distressed people, gathering clothing of every
kind, and were quite successful in sending something
to their afflicted brethren.
EDUCATING THE FREEDMEN.
This is a matter which absorbed the minds of the
North : whether the negro would learn, and eagerly
improve the facilities opened lo him through his liber
ation. Almost immediately after the close of the war
barracks used by the soldiers vvere turned into school-
houses, and it was no rare sight to see a number of
these freedmen crowded into them, over whom pre
sided some noble-hearted lady engaged in her duties
as school-marm. Would they' learn .? Let the record
of the last fourteen or fifteen years testify.
I can not let this opportunity pass without paying a
tribute of respect to the memory of Miss Stebbins,
who died while devoting her life lo this cause. When
I last saw her she was in Washington, D. C, at the
barracks on the corner of Seventh and O Streets.

THE EXODUS, 146
She lived in one portion of the building, and, although
school hours were over, she was instructing two bright,
interesting girls in the mysteries of the alphabet. In
one corner of the room vvere boxes of clothing which
she distributed among the most needy of her pupils,
that they might look presentable day after day. Not
only children, but adults attended school, and it was
not unusual to see a father and son, a mother and
daughter in the same class, eager and anxious to learn.
Says one teacher, who kept a night school for the
benefit of those who were not able, on account of their
work, to attend during the day : " I had a boy present
himself as wishing to become a member of the school.
After examining him, I found he was pretty well up in
all the first principles of arithmetic, except long divis
ion — of this he knew nothing, I was astonished to
find, after going over a few examples, explaining care
fully as I went along, that when the pencil was put in
his hand he worked as well as I could," From that
night he had no more trouble wilh long division.
That boy was afterwards a hard student at Howard
University, and learned to read Latin with ease.
What nation, after years of servitude has made'such
rapid strides of improvement,? All over the South we
find schools vvith efficient teachers, many of whom
were formerly pupils, now going over the same ground
others had taken them. The barracks have given vvay
to school buildings of the most modern design. The
schools are all graded, the scholars advancing step by
step till they reach the topmost round. Perhaps no
heller exaini)les can be furnished than tlie District of
Columbia, where the school system is fixed upon a
firmer and better basis than elsewhere,
lO

146 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF JAMES L. SMITH.
THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
The emigration of my people from the Southern
States has engaged my attention for some time. In
Heathsville, Va., the place of my birth, the colored
people are not treated with such severity as in the
States further South, for in Heathsville they have
more privileges than they have in Western Virginia. I
think the cause of this great emigration is owing to the
fact of ill treatment, equal almost lo slavery ; because
of cruelties heaped upon them in the South, and be
cause of the hopelessness of obtaining an education for
their children. It was the burden of their complaint ;
their political rights had been denied them, and every
possible advantage had been taken from them, and
feeling aggrieved they had looked around for relief, and
the only solace offered was to emigrate. In some parts
of the South our people labor without hardly wages
enough to get them food, which places many of them
in a starving condition, and without sufficient clothing.
Twenty-five cents a day is considered great wages,
taking part corn for pay. My heart has been drawn
out for thera in sympathy, knowing myself what il was
lo want, even in Virginia, a meal of victuals.
The emigrants adopted a plan of action to appeal lo
President Hayes, for him lo enforce the laws to protect
their rights. Then they appealed lo Congress to set
apart a territory, or aid them to emigrate to Liberia,
Our people lost all hope of bettering their condition at
that time. In 1877 they petitioned Congress and Presi
dent Hayes, Not hearing from this petition the color
ed emigrants became exasperated, saying: " Let us go
any where in God's world lo gel away from these men

THE EXODUS, ] 47
who once enslaved us," Many of the white republi
cans of the South are treated not much better than the
colored people, because they are republicans. Since
they have emigrated many children, fathers and moth
ers have died frorri starvation and exposure, for they
were without shelter and nothing to wear, lying on the
cold ground, exposed lo the winter blasts with only
the sky for a covering.
The number of those who poured in upon the State
of Kansas, early in the sjiring of 1879, is known lo have
been four or five thousand. Steadily has been the
flow of the small stream which attracted so little atten
tion, and by the opening of the spring of 1880 over
ten Ihousandjarrived, and probably since the spring of
1880 twice the number have emigrated, I think that
something must be the cause for their great emigration
more than common, for my people are a home-like
people ; they would never leave the Southern soil if
properly treated, or had wages enough to make them
comfortable ; as a general thing they are home-loving
and law-abiding citizens. While living South they felt
they had "no rights that the white man vvas bound to
respect." All praise is due to Mrs. Comstock, for her self-de
nying philanthropy exhibited towards my people, for
they must have suffered more had it not been for her
endeavors, in writing all over the United Stales to our
most prominent citizens for help lo relieve their. suffer
ings. The peojile in many places have responded to
her call. Here, in Norwich, the ladies have come up
to the work as they always do where assistance is
needed among my people, God bless them for what

148 AUTODIOGRAPHV OF JAMES 1.. SMITH.
they have done ; hoping that they will think of them
in the future, as they are still leaving their land of
slavery, as they expect the freedom which they have
fought for and hoped for. In their going away their
places can not be filled, for they were the bone and
sinew of the South,
While I write, there are fifty thousand pounds of
clothing, sent on in 1879 from England, held 'at the
New York Custom House for duty lo be paid on them.
They were sent for my people in Kansas, Il is wicked
lo deprive these poor, suffering people of comfortable
clothing while so many are dying for the want of il, I
trust that the hearts of the people everywhere will be so
softened towards my injured people that they will be
induced lo send them on, even if obliged lo pay the
duty on thera, and not wait for Congress to decide.
Shall this people die, who have stood by us in sunshine
and storm .? Shall we let them suffer for the want of
bread, for the want of corn, for the want of clothing .?
God forbid it ! As they stood by the flag once, they
stand by it still, because it bespeaks freedom to them
and their posterity.
When the Rebel army was five miles from the Capi
tal, and the skirmishers were three miles frora George
town, when il was conjectured that the assault vvould
take place the next morning, it was then our colored
soldiers met the waves of conflict ; il was then the
bone and sinews of the South saved the Capital of
the United Stales. Aye ; my soul listens already lo
the glad prelude of the song of triumph, swelling u|)
from myriads of hearts, and welling into a pasan that
fills the vast concave of heaven itself with the deep-

THE EXODUS, 149
toned melodies of' an universal jubilee : " Washington
is saved!" Then our colored soldiers came up to its
rescue, which contradicts the saying, that colored men
will not fight. Well did they do their duty, and proved
their manhood at Fort Wagner, Fort Moultrie, Peters
burg, Miliken's Bend, Fort Fisher, and other places,
while their families were left starving at home. We,
all know that these things are so, although they are
not recorded in history with other events of the war.
We hope the time will come when our children, at
tending while seminaries of learning, may receive med
als the same as while students. In Connecticut, and
elsewhere, prizes and medals have been, and are with
held from our most brilliant scholars of color. In one
of our Eastern colleges a colored student vvas robbed
of his essay, and had recourse to a law-suit lo have
justice done him ; but was obliged to write another,
and received the prize at his graduation, after the law
suit was ended. He was obliged to go another year in
order to accomplish it. The wrongs of this system will
go up before the Throne of Infinite Justice,
The United States ought to be strong enough in in
tellect, in moral sensibility and Christian feeling, lo
conquer her prejudices. Until she does, the poet's
tribute to " Columbia " as " the land of the free and
the home of the brave," will be a satire that shall pro
voke a reproachful smile — attesting her fidelity to
justice and liberty, God and man.
The leading question of to-day is, why do the color
ed people emigrate .? Almost every day and week dur
ing the spring of 1880, it was discussed among the
senators and representatives in Congress, the argument

150 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF J, I„ SMITH. — THE EXODUS.
having taken up most of the time ; the question also
created quite a discussion in 1879; the Southern sen
ators, who were the majority in the Senate, were loath
to drop the question.
In conclusion, I raust say that the raore I contem
plate the condition of my people, the more I am con
vinced that this is only the beginning of the end ; but
the end is not yet.

^^FINIg.5H^^

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