(1)
Moses
Grandy, Life
of a Slave (1843)
MacPherson gave the same task to each slave; of course the weak ones
often failed to do it. I have often seen him tie up persons and flog
them in the morning, only because they were unable to get the previous
day's task done: after they were flogged, pork or beef brine was put
on their bleeding backs, to increase the pain; he sitting by resting
himself, and seeing it done. After being thus flogged and pickled,
the sufferers often remained tied up all day, the feet just touching
the ground, the legs tied, and pieces of wood put between the legs.
All the motion allowed was a slight turn of the neck. Thus exposed
and helpless, the yellow flies and mosquitoes in great numbers would
settle on the bleeding and smarting back, and put the sufferer to
extreme torture. This continued all day, for they were not taken down
till night.
In flogging, MacPherson would sometimes tie the slave's shirt over
his head, that he might not flinch when the blow was coming: sometimes
he would increase his misery, by blustering and calling out that he
was coming to flog again, which he did or did not, as happened. I
have seen him flog slaves with his own hands, till their entrails
were visible; and I have seen the sufferers dead when they were taken
down. He never was called to account in any way for it.
It is not uncommon for flies to blow the sores made by flogging. In
that case, we get a strong weed growing in those parts, called the
Oak of Jerusalem; we boil it at night, and wash the sores with the
liquor, which is extremely bitter: on this, the creepers or maggots
come out. To relieve them in some degree after severe flogging, their
fellow-slaves rub their backs with part of their little allowance
of fat meat.
(2) Charles
Ball, The Life of an American Slave (1859)
After the flight of my father, my grandfather was the only person
left in Maryland with whom I could claim kindred. He was an old man,
nearly eighty years old, he said, and he manifested all the fondness
for me that I could expect from one so old. He was feeble, and his
master required but little work from him. He always expressed contempt
for his fellow-slaves, for when young, he was an African of rank in
his native land. He had a small cabin of his own, with half an acre
of ground attached to it, which he cultivated on his own account,
and from which he drew a large share of his sustenance. He had singular
religious notions - never going to meeting or caring for the preachers
he could, if he would, occasionally hear. He retained his native traditions
respecting the Deity and hereafter. It is not strange that he believed
the religion of his oppressors to be the invention of designing men,
for the text oftenest quoted in his hearing was, "Servants, be
obedient to your masters."
(3) Henry
Clay Bruce, Twenty-Nine Years a Slave (1895)
During the crop season in Virginia, slave men and women worked in
the fields daily, and such females as had sucklings were allowed to
come to them three times a day between sun rise and sun set, for the
purpose of nursing their babes, who were left in the care of an old
woman, who was assigned to the care of these children because she
was too old or too feeble for field work. Such old women usually had
to care for, and prepare the meals of all children under working age.
They were furnished with plenty of good, wholesome food by the master,
who took special care to see that it was properly cooked and served
to them as often as they desired it. On very large plantations there
were many such old women, who spent the remainder of their lives caring
for children of younger women.
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