28 chapters
17 hour read
Selected Chapters
28 chapters
PREFACE.
PREFACE.
At the same time it has occurred to me, as it has to many another writer, that my book would be far more interesting to the general reader, if I were to select a representative woman of our own race, and make her the mouthpiece of all I wished to say; in other words, to introduce the whole under the pleasing form of an historical romance, so that we might keep our heroine constantly before our eyes, and make her weave in a continuous tale of love, travel, war and peace, and thus portray the lady
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
INTRODUCTORY.
INTRODUCTORY.
It is high time that the Negro judge whose utterances are fitting and suitable to his case, who stands for his utterances, and which have his sanction, not to allow those hostile to your very existence select, under the guise of friendship, those sentiments put forth by aggrandizing writers and leaders distasteful to you, and brand them as your daily thoughts and hourly prayers. Respect for the sycophant cannot exist long, even among them whom he traitorously serves. A tree is judged by its frui
26 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
As my father was a rich man, who indulged me in many ways and appeared to love me, and as I often had occasion to accompany him and Mrs. Jackson, or some of the other members of the family, to Louisville, he seldom refused to give me the cash I asked for, which I now began to carefully put away in a secret place only known to the Lord and myself. Two eventful years had passed away. I had by this time discovered the whereabouts of my mother, Harriet, in New Orleans, and my hopes of meeting her ag
52 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
It is true that even slavery had its backers in the North, and too many of them at that, but the entire Christian portion of the population was determined that slavery should come no further, although the South seemed to demand, with the most unblushing impudence, that they should carry their slaves into every State and territory under the stars and stripes. The South acted like a violent, high-strung woman, whose husband tries to reason with her in vain. She seemed to say, "I shall have my own
50 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
[image] At last we saw Tom coming up the street, when such a scene ensued as it would take the very angels of heaven to tell. We sat up to a late hour that night, and seemed quite unwilling to break up and retire for the night. The pastor of the church, his good lady, and all the friends came flocking round to see us, and the rejoicing over our mother's safe arrival from the land of slavery was both loud and deep. When we next went to church, the interest there was most unbounded, and the enthus
42 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
"On my way down the Mississippi to New Orleans, they brought an old colored man on board, having sold him to a family resident in the Queen City of the South. I conversed much with that grand old hero, and it was wonderful to see what an intuitive knowledge he had of human nature, and what a vast amount of natural goodness there was still left in him, after so much hard experience, labor and toil among the cane brakes and cotton fields. Such a man as Judah—for that was his name—ought to have bee
40 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
Time passed on, and Tom and I, and Mr. and Mrs. Sutherland, still continued to occupy the same house. The Lord blessed the entire household, and none of us had ever cause to regret the steps we had taken and carried out with such speed. We enlisted heart and soul in the grand anti-slavery movement, and blew the bellows with all our might to help on the good cause of liberty and perfect freedom. The border ruffians in Kansas had been beaten back into the South, which was the first open fight betw
40 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
It would be a pleasure for me to relate the deeds of devotion recorded of our people in behalf of the cause of God and liberty. There are two acts, those of heroic women, that I must not omit. We have all heard of General John Morgan, the Kentucky guerilla chief, who led a raid into Ohio, and worked so much wanton mischief on Union people and the Union in the Southern cause. We caught and imprisoned him in Ohio, but he escaped, and took to his tricks again, and was more fleet, and harder to catc
40 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
During all this time the girls were growing up finely, and every twelve months I had their photographs taken and sent to him to let him see how nicely they looked in their New Year's dresses. Tom sent up photographs of himself in his plain soldier's dress, and also in his officer's dress, after his promotion. Poor Tom! My eyes often filled with tears when his letters came, and I sat down with an anxious heart to read their contents. I knew, of course, that the children and I should be provided f
43 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
Colonel Wade led the right column, General Burbridge the left, and General Brisbin the centre. Wade got off first, and sailed into the rebels in gallant style. Burbridge piled his overcoat on the ground, drew his sword, and led his column forward like lions. Most of the officers and all the men were on foot. Wade's horse was soon shot, after which he led his men on foot, and they were the first to strike the Confederate line, who fired time after time, but Wade's column advanced rapidly for a ha
44 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
It was not until August, 1863, when the men of Iowa arose, hurried through their drill, and marched to the front. They gathered at first at St. Louis, where Mrs. I. N. Triplet presented one of the regiments with a beautiful silk national flag, on behalf of the ladies of Iowa, and of the city of Muscatine. That beautiful flag was carried all through the war, and was brought home again to Iowa, in the midst of great congratulations. In January, 1864, this regiment was ordered to report to Helena,
43 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
Our hearts felt as light as feathers as the "Natchez" ploughed out into mid-stream, a thousand branches up above, swollen with the recent rains, having filled up the mighty and splendid Ohio from bank to bank, so that we seemed to be floating down a grand, heaving, fresh-water sea! Now, indeed, did we enjoy new life with a vim. I told the girls how the first French owners and explorers named the Ohio "La Belle Rivière," that is, "The Beautiful River," and it is the beautiful river, still. Our ey
40 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
As the hospital where my husband was staying was at this time one of the greatest attractions of New Orleans, the authorities determined to make the most of our arrival there, and in short get up a demonstration in force in honor of the colored soldier and the glorious deeds he had done on the far-extended battle-field, all the way from the Potomac to the Rio Grande; and it was decided that some high military general should be asked to take the chair at this great meeting in the largest hall at
43 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
For the space of a whole month thereafter we just spent the whole time receiving friends at our house, and entertaining them, and going out and being entertained by them in turn. It was just one round of the purest pleasure, in which there was neither danger nor alloy. Tom had to do an infinite deal of talking, relating his wars and battles in the Sunny South, and the girls and I supplemented the same by giving our experiences of the Rivers Ohio and Mississippi, and the grand sea voyage all the
40 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
But during all these unhappy years that followed the close of the war there was one thing that did not miscarry, and that was the great march of the emancipated slaves on the road to progress, and everything that tends to elevate and ennoble a nation. The fostering national government, the churches of the North, and all that which was best in this great republic, were straining themselves to the very utmost to lift up the entire redeemed race by affording them the best education that they could
38 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
But our people were discreet, and neither said nor did anything purposely to cause any reasonable person to take offense. Of course, they stood upon their rights, and they claimed their rights of way as much as others, but all the same their lawful demonstration of joy and rejoicing went with a most tremendous swing, and nothing was done by anybody to mar the exultation of the grand occasion. So far as the Republicans were concerned, and all the brave old Abolition school, and every one of that
41 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XV.
[image] The bill that was introduced into Congress to enforce order in the South was nick-named the "Force Bill," and it was not such a bad name, after all, because nothing but force seemed of any service in making Southern States do right. Things came to their worst in 1874, when the city of New Orleans was in a state of siege, the streets blockaded with State troops and White Line leagues, and an open battle was fought between the two conflicting parties. The rebels overthrew the Republican St
38 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVI.
In 1868 General Grant ran for President on the Republican ticket—Grant and Colfax—whilst Seymour and Blair were the nominees on the Democratic ticket. Although the rebel element had always been too rampant in the State of Louisiana, they grew ten times more as the day for the election for President drew near. It was particularly desired by the Democrats of the South to carry Louisiana for Seymour and Blair. The plan they adopted was the wholesale use of the shot-gun in the different "parishes" (
37 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVII.
There is an old but true saying that "None are so blind as those who don't want to see," which leads me on to say that the Hon. D. W. Voorhees, United States Senator from Indiana, must either have been most dreadfully blind to the truth, or else he must have been in a very childish humor, when he introduced his famous resolution into the Senate at Washington for the investigation of "The causes of the migration of the colored people from the Southern to the Northern States." Now, since this worl
37 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
It is quite unnecessary for me to say that marriage is one of the greatest events in human life, and that their marriage gave each one of these four young people the most abundant joy. To still further enhance the happiness of the young people it was decided that they should spend their honeymoon upon the ocean, and in the British Isles, where some of our ancestors had come from; and my husband and myself decided to go with them for company, and have a good time generally. So all preparations we
39 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XIX.
Young Payne saw that South Carolina was no place for him, and that the first duty he owed to himself was to get away as best he could, to the Northern States, where he could enjoy his own manly and manful rights. As fortune favors the brave, he succeeded in making his escape, and his freedom being now secure, he made all due haste to become that eminent scholar, who was destined by the will of God, to become a leader and an instructor of his people. He connected himself with the A. M. E. Church,
41 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XX.
My dear reader, we are often told that poverty is no disgrace, but that it is very inconvenient. Which is all true, indeed, too true; and what is still worse, it often cannot be helped. In days not so long since gone by, we used to be taunted with poverty, but if we had no possessions of our own in the days of slavery, we at least, like the apostle Paul, made others rich, and it was our oppressed people who built up the Sunny South—the richest section of the United States before the war. If we h
35 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XXI.
CHAPTER XXI.
But, my dear reader, the "Lord works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform." We fondly expected and hoped to see freedom in our own day—"some sweet day"—but our minds were little prepared for its coming so soon. We heard the rumblings of the storm, indeed, but there had been other storms before, and they had blown over, and why should not this one go the same as they? That is the way that we poor, limited, erring human beings are likely to go aside and miss the mark. We judged of the rising
33 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE AMERICAN-SPANISH WAR—I.
THE AMERICAN-SPANISH WAR—I.
As our own nation had had a fearful war with England, in the days of George Washington—a war that lasted over seven years—all citizens of the United States felt a great deal of sympathy for the Cuban leaders, and for all the Cuban people—"a people who now devoted their lives unto death on the high places of the field"—and myself, my own family, and all my beloved race, felt very, very deeply for them. And not only did the people of the United States, but all lovers of freedom throughout the worl
33 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
THE AMERICAN-SPANISH WAR—II.
THE AMERICAN-SPANISH WAR—II.
The heaviest fighting by land was done around the city of Santiago de Cuba, the second city of the island, and the old Spanish capital of the same. Santiago (which means "St. James," in Spanish) was very strongly fortified, and pretty well defended by the ancient and modern methods of an old nation going down in the world. On account of the great danger of assaulting a city built upon hills, and thus strongly defended by nature and art, Uncle Sam wisely decided to send his veteran troops there—n
29 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
BLACKS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR AND IN 1812.
BLACKS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR AND IN 1812.
The Declaration of American Independence, made July 4th, 1776, had scarcely been enunciated, and an organization of the government commenced, ere the people found themselves surrounded by new and trying difficulties, which, for a time, threatened to wreck the ship of state. The forty-five slaves landed on the banks of the James river, in the colony of Virginia, from the coast of Africa, in 1620, had multiplied to several thousands, and were influencing the political, social and religious institu
19 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
"NICK" BIDDLE.
"NICK" BIDDLE.
[image] Deeds are indestructible; ideas are imperishable, and mind is immortal. "Children," says George Eliot, "may be strangled, deeds never; they have an indestructible life, both in mind and outside of our consciousness." It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that many of the ancients of the distant past should have predicated eternal life upon deeds and ideas. Deeds which are formidable, and ideas which grow and expand, and gather strength, until they become the very life of the social, mo
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
COLOR IS NO BAR TO OFFICE.
COLOR IS NO BAR TO OFFICE.
"WHITE HOUSE, "Washington, November 26th, 1902. "My Dear Sir:—I am in receipt of your letter of November 10th, and one from Mr. ——, under date of November 11th, in reference to the appointment of Dr. Crum as collector of the port of Charleston. "In your letter you make certain specific charges against Dr. Crum, tending to show his unfitness in several respects for the office sought. These charges are entitled to the utmost consideration from me, and I shall go over them carefully before taking a
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter