Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom
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William and Ellen Craft >> Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom
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United States, your banner wears,
Two emblems,--one of fame,
Alas, the other that it bears
Reminds us of your shame!
The white man's liberty in types
Stands blazoned by your stars;
But what's the meaning of your stripes?
They mean your Negro-scars.
When the time had arrived for us to start, we
blew out the lights, knelt down, and prayed to our
Heavenly Father mercifully to assist us, as he did
his people of old, to escape from cruel bondage; and
we shall ever feel that God heard and answered our
prayer. Had we not been sustained by a kind, and
I sometimes think special, providence, we could
never have overcome the mountainous difficulties
which I am now about to describe.
After this we rose and stood for a few moments
in breathless silence,--we were afraid that some one
might have been about the cottage listening and
watching our movements. So I took my wife by
the hand, stepped softly to the door, raised the latch,
drew it open, and peeped out. Though there were
trees all around the house, yet the foliage scarcely
moved; in fact, everything appeared to be as still
as death. I then whispered to my wife, "Come, my
dear, let us make a desperate leap for liberty!" But
poor thing, she shrank back, in a state of trepidation.
I turned and asked what was the matter; she made
no reply, but burst into violent sobs, and threw her
head upon my breast. This appeared to touch my
very heart, it caused me to enter into her feelings
more fully than ever. We both saw the many
mountainous difficulties that rose one after the
other before our view, and knew far too well what
our sad fate would have been, were we caught and
forced back into our slavish den. Therefore on my
wife's fully realizing the solemn fact that we had to
take our lives, as it were, in our hands, and contest
every inch of the thousand miles of slave territory
over which we had to pass, it made her heart almost
sink within her, and, had I known them at that
time, I would have repeated the following en-
couraging lines, which may not be out of place
here--
"The hill, though high, I covet to ascend,
The DIFFICULTY WILL NOT ME OFFEND;
For I perceive the way to life lies here:
Come, pluck up heart, let's neither faint nor fear;
Better, though difficult, the right way to go,--
Than wrong, though easy, where the end is woe."
However, the sobbing was soon over, and after a
few moments of silent prayer she recovered her
self-possession, and said, "Come, William, it is
getting late, so now let us venture upon our peril-
ous journey."
We then opened the door, and stepped as softly
out as "moonlight upon the water." I locked the
door with my own key, which I now have before me,
and tiptoed across the yard into the street. I say
tiptoed, because we were like persons near a totter-
ing avalanche, afraid to move, or even breathe freely,
for fear the sleeping tyrants should be aroused, and
come down upon us with double vengeance, for
daring to attempt to escape in the manner which
we contemplated.
We shook hands, said farewell, and started in
different directions for the railway station. I took
the nearest possible way to the train, for fear I
should be recognized by some one, and got into the
negro car in which I knew I should have to ride;
but my MASTER (as I will now call my wife) took a
longer way round, and only arrived there with the
bulk of the passengers. He obtained a ticket
for himself and one for his slave to Savannah, the
first port, which was about two hundred miles off.
My master then had the luggage stowed away, and
stepped into one of the best carriages.
But just before the train moved off I peeped
through the window, and, to my great astonishment,
I saw the cabinet-maker with whom I had worked so
long, on the platform. He stepped up to the ticket-
seller, and asked some question, and then com-
menced looking rapidly through the passengers,
and into the carriages. Fully believing that we
were caught, I shrank into a corner, turned my
face from the door, and expected in a moment to
be dragged out. The cabinet-maker looked into
my master's carriage, but did not know him in his
new attire, and, as God would have it, before he
reached mine the bell rang, and the train moved
off.
I have heard since that the cabinet-maker had a pre-
sentiment that we were about to "make tracks for
parts unknown;" but, not seeing me, his suspicions
vanished, until he received the startling intelligence
that we had arrived freely in a free State.
As soon as the train had left the platform, my
master looked round in the carriage, and was
terror-stricken to find a Mr. Cray--an old friend of
my wife's master, who dined with the family the
day before, and knew my wife from childhood--
sitting on the same seat.
The doors of the American railway carriages are
at the ends. The passengers walk up the aisle, and
take seats on either side; and as my master was
engaged in looking out of the window, he did not see
who came in.
My master's first impression, after seeing Mr.
Cray, was, that he was there for the purpose of
securing him. However, my master thought it was
not wise to give any information respecting him-
self, and for fear that Mr. Cray might draw him
into conversation and recognise his voice, my
master resolved to feign deafness as the only means
of self-defence.
After a little while, Mr. Cray said to my master,
"It is a very fine morning, sir." The latter took
no notice, but kept looking out of the window.
Mr. Cray soon repeated this remark, in a little
louder tone, but my master remained as before.
This indifference attracted the attention of the
passengers near, one of whom laughed out. This,
I suppose, annoyed the old gentleman; so he said,
"I will make him hear;" and in a loud tone of
voice repeated, "It is a very fine morning, sir."
My master turned his head, and with a polite
bow said, "Yes," and commenced looking out of
the window again.
One of the gentlemen remarked that it was a
very great deprivation to be deaf. "Yes," replied
Mr. Cray, "and I shall not trouble that fellow any
more." This enabled my master to breathe a little
easier, and to feel that Mr. Cray was not his pur-
suer after all.
The gentlemen then turned the conversation
upon the three great topics of discussion in first-
class circles in Georgia, namely, Niggers, Cotton,
and the Abolitionists.
My master had often heard of abolitionists, but
in such a connection as to cause him to think that
they were a fearful kind of wild animal. But he
was highly delighted to learn, from the gentle-
men's conversation, that the abolitionists were
persons who were opposed to oppression; and
therefore, in his opinion, not the lowest, but the
very highest, of God's creatures.
Without the slightest objection on my master's
part, the gentlemen left the carriage at Gordon,
for Milledgeville (the capital of the State).
We arrived at Savannah early in the evening,
and got into an omnibus, which stopped at the
hotel for the passengers to take tea. I stepped
into the house and brought my master something
on a tray to the omnibus, which took us in due
time to the steamer, which was bound for Charles-
ton, South Carolina.
Soon after going on board, my master turned in;
and as the captain and some of the passengers
seemed to think this strange, and also questioned
me respecting him, my master thought I had better
get out the flannels and opodeldoc which we had
prepared for the rheumatism, warm them quickly by
the stove in the gentleman's saloon, and bring them
to his berth. We did this as an excuse for my
master's retiring to bed so early.
While at the stove one of the passengers said to
me, "Buck, what have you got there?" "Opodel-
doc, sir," I replied. "I should think it's opo-
DEVIL," said a lanky swell, who was leaning back
in a chair with his heels upon the back of another,
and chewing tobacco as if for a wager; "it stinks
enough to kill or cure twenty men. Away with it,
or I reckon I will throw it overboard!"
It was by this time warm enough, so I took it to
my master's berth, remained there a little while,
and then went on deck and asked the steward
where I was to sleep. He said there was no place
provided for coloured passengers, whether slave
or free. So I paced the deck till a late hour,
then mounted some cotton bags, in a warm place
near the funnel, sat there till morning, and then
went and assisted my master to get ready for
breakfast.
He was seated at the right hand of the captain,
who, together with all the passengers, inquired very
kindly after his health. As my master had one
hand in a sling, it was my duty to carve his food.
But when I went out the captain said, "You have
a very attentive boy, sir; but you had better watch
him like a hawk when you get on to the North.
He seems all very well here, but he may act quite
differently there. I know several gentlemen who
have lost their valuable niggers among them d----d
cut-throat abolitionists."
Before my master could speak, a rough slave-
dealer, who was sitting opposite, with both elbows
on the table, and with a large piece of broiled fowl
in his fingers, shook his head with emphasis, and in
a deep Yankee tone, forced through his crowded
mouth the words, "Sound doctrine, captain, very
sound." He then dropped the chicken into the plate,
leant back, placed his thumbs in the armholes of
his fancy waistcoat, and continued, "I would not
take a nigger to the North under no consideration.
I have had a deal to do with niggers in my time,
but I never saw one who ever had his heel upon
free soil that was worth a d----n." "Now
stranger," addressing my master, "if you have
made up your mind to sell that ere nigger, I
am your man; just mention your price, and if it
isn't out of the way, I will pay for him on this
board with hard silver dollars." This hard-featured,
bristly-bearded, wire-headed, red-eyed monster,
staring at my master as the serpent did at Eve,
said, "What do you say, stranger?" He replied,
"I don't wish to sell, sir; I cannot get on well with-
out him."
"You will have to get on without him if you
take him to the North," continued this man; "for
I can tell ye, stranger, as a friend, I am an older
cove than you, I have seen lots of this ere world,
and I reckon I have had more dealings with niggers
than any man living or dead. I was once employed
by General Wade Hampton, for ten years, in doing
nothing but breaking 'em in; and everybody knows
that the General would not have a man that didn't
understand his business. So I tell ye, stranger,
again, you had better sell, and let me take him
down to Orleans. He will do you no good if you
take him across Mason's and Dixon's line; he is
a keen nigger, and I can see from the cut of his
eye that he is certain to run away." My master
said, "I think not, sir; I have great confidence in
his fidelity." "FiDEVIL," indignantly said the dealer,
as his fist came down upon the edge of the saucer
and upset a cup of hot coffee in a gentleman's lap.
(As the scalded man jumped up the trader quietly
said, "Don't disturb yourself, neighbour; accidents
will happen in the best of families.") "It always
makes me mad to hear a man talking about fidelity
in niggers. There isn't a d----d one on 'em who
wouldn't cut sticks, if he had half a chance."
By this time we were near Charleston; my master
thanked the captain for his advice, and they all
withdrew and went on deck, where the trader
fancied he became quite eloquent. He drew a crowd
around him, and with emphasis said, "Cap'en, if I
was the President of this mighty United States of
America, the greatest and freest country under
the whole universe, I would never let no man, I
don't care who he is, take a nigger into the North
and bring him back here, filled to the brim, as he is
sure to be, with d----d abolition vices, to taint all
quiet niggers with the hellish spirit of running
away. These air, cap'en, my flat-footed, every day,
right up and down sentiments, and as this is a free
country, cap'en, I don't care who hears 'em; for I
am a Southern man, every inch on me to the back-
bone." "Good!" said an insignificant-looking
individual of the slave-dealer stamp. "Three cheers
for John C. Calhoun and the whole fair sunny
South!" added the trader. So off went their hats,
and out burst a terrific roar of irregular but con-
tinued cheering. My master took no more notice
of the dealer. He merely said to the captain that
the air on deck was too keen for him, and he would
therefore return to the cabin.
While the trader was in the zenith of his elo-
quence, he might as well have said, as one of his
kit did, at a great Filibustering meeting, that
"When the great American Eagle gets one of his
mighty claws upon Canada and the other into
South America, and his glorious and starry wings
of liberty extending from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, oh! then, where will England be, ye gen-
tlemen? I tell ye, she will only serve as a pocket-
handkerchief for Jonathan to wipe his nose with."
On my master entering the cabin he found at the
breakfast-table a young southern military officer,
with whom he had travelled some distance the pre-
vious day.
After passing the usual compliments the conver-
sation turned upon the old subject,--niggers.
The officer, who was also travelling with a man-
servant, said to my master, "You will excuse me, Sir,
for saying I think you are very likely to spoil your
boy by saying 'thank you' to him. I assure you,
sir, nothing spoils a slave so soon as saying, 'thank
you' and 'if you please' to him. The only way to
make a nigger toe the mark, and to keep him in his
place, is to storm at him like thunder, and keep
him trembling like a leaf. Don't you see, when I
speak to my Ned, he darts like lightning; and if
he didn't I'd skin him."
Just then the poor dejected slave came in,
and the officer swore at him fearfully, merely to
teach my master what he called the proper way to
treat me.
After he had gone out to get his master's lug-
gage ready, the officer said, "That is the way to
speak to them. If every nigger was drilled in this
manner, they would be as humble as dogs, and
never dare to run away.
The gentleman urged my master not to go to
the North for the restoration of his health, but to
visit the Warm Springs in Arkansas.
My master said, he thought the air of Phila-
delphia would suit his complaint best; and, not
only so, he thought he could get better advice
there.
The boat had now reached the wharf. The
officer wished my master a safe and pleasant jour-
ney, and left the saloon.
There were a large number of persons on the
quay waiting the arrival of the steamer: but we
were afraid to venture out for fear that some
one might recognize me; or that they had heard
that we were gone, and had telegraphed to have us
stopped. However, after remaining in the cabin
till all the other passengers were gone, we had our
luggage placed on a fly, and I took my master by
the arm, and with a little difficulty he hobbled on
shore, got in and drove off to the best hotel, which
John C. Calhoun, and all the other great southern
fire-eating statesmen, made their head-quarters while
in Charleston.
On arriving at the house the landlord ran out
and opened the door: but judging, from the poul-
tices and green glasses, that my master was an
invalid, he took him very tenderly by one arm and
ordered his man to take the other.
My master then eased himself out, and with
their assistance found no trouble in getting up the
steps into the hotel. The proprietor made me
stand on one side, while he paid my master the
attention and homage he thought a gentleman of
his high position merited.
My master asked for a bed-room. The servant
was ordered to show a good one, into which we
helped him. The servant returned. My master
then handed me the bandages, I took them down-
stairs in great haste, and told the landlord my
master wanted two hot poultices as quickly as
possible. He rang the bell, the servant came in, to
whom he said, "Run to the kitchen and tell the
cook to make two hot poultices right off, for there
is a gentleman upstairs very badly off indeed!"
In a few minutes the smoking poultices were
brought in. I placed them in white handker-
chiefs, and hurried upstairs, went into my master's
apartment, shut the door, and laid them on the
mantel-piece. As he was alone for a little while,
he thought he could rest a great deal better with
the poultices off. However, it was necessary to have
them to complete the remainder of the journey.
I then ordered dinner, and took my master's
boots out to polish them. While doing so I en-
tered into conversation with one of the slaves. I
may state here, that on the sea-coast of South
Carolina and Georgia the slaves speak worse Eng-
lish than in any other part of the country. This
is owing to the frequent importation, or smug-
gling in, of Africans, who mingle with the natives.
Consequently the language cannot properly be
called English or African, but a corruption of
the two.
The shrewd son of African parents to whom I
referred said to me, "Say, brudder, way you come
from, and which side you goin day wid dat ar little
don up buckra" (white man)?
I replied, "To Philadelphia."
"What!" he exclaimed, with astonishment, "to
Philumadelphy?"
"Yes," I said.
"By squash! I wish I was going wid you! I
hears um say dat dare's no slaves way over in dem
parts; is um so?"
I quietly said, "I have heard the same thing."
"Well," continued he, as he threw down the
boot and brush, and, placing his hands in his
pockets, strutted across the floor with an air
of independence--"Gorra Mighty, dem is de parts
for Pompey; and I hope when you get dare you
will stay, and nebber follow dat buckra back
to dis hot quarter no more, let him be eber so
good."
I thanked him; and just as I took the boots up
and started off, he caught my hand between his
two, and gave it a hearty shake, and, with tears
streaming down his cheeks, said:--
"God bless you, broder, and may de Lord be wid
you. When you gets de freedom, and sitin under
your own wine and fig-tree, don't forget to pray
for poor Pompey."
I was afraid to say much to him, but I shall
never forget his earnest request, nor fail to do
what little I can to release the millions of unhappy
bondmen, of whom he was one.
At the proper time my master had the poultices
placed on, came down, and seated himself at a table
in a very brilliant dining-room, to have his dinner.
I had to have something at the same time, in order
to be ready for the boat; so they gave me my
dinner in an old broken plate, with a rusty knife
and fork, and said, "Here, boy, you go in the
kitchen." I took it and went out, but did not
stay more than a few minutes, because I was in a
great hurry to get back to see how the invalid was
getting on. On arriving I found two or three
servants waiting on him; but as he did not feel able
to make a very hearty dinner, he soon finished, paid
the bill, and gave the servants each a trifle, which
caused one of them to say to me, "Your massa is
a big bug"--meaning a gentleman of distinction--
"he is the greatest gentleman dat has been dis way
for dis six months." I said, "Yes, he is some
pumpkins," meaning the same as "big bug."
When we left Macon, it was our intention to
take a steamer at Charleston through to Phila-
delphia; but on arriving there we found that the
vessels did not run during the winter, and I have
no doubt it was well for us they did not; for on the
very last voyage the steamer made that we intended
to go by, a fugitive was discovered secreted on
board, and sent back to slavery. However, as we
had also heard of the Overland Mail Route, we
were all right. So I ordered a fly to the door, had
the luggage placed on; we got in, and drove down
to the Custom-house Office, which was near the
wharf where we had to obtain tickets, to take a
steamer for Wilmington, North Carolina. When
we reached the building, I helped my master into
the office, which was crowded with passengers.
He asked for a ticket for himself and one for
his slave to Philadelphia. This caused the prin-
cipal officer--a very mean-looking, cheese-coloured
fellow, who was sitting there--to look up at us very
suspiciously, and in a fierce tone of voice he said
to me, "Boy, do you belong to that gentleman?"
I quickly replied, "Yes, sir" (which was quite
correct). The tickets were handed out, and as my
master was paying for them the chief man said to
him, "I wish you to register your name here, sir,
and also the name of your nigger, and pay a dollar
duty on him."
My master paid the dollar, and pointing to the
hand that was in the poultice, requested the officer
to register his name for him. This seemed to
offend the "high-bred" South Carolinian. He
jumped up, shaking his head; and, cramming his
hands almost through the bottom of his trousers
pockets, with a slave-bullying air, said, "I shan't
do it."
This attracted the attention of all the passengers.
Just then the young military officer with whom
my master travelled and conversed on the steamer
from Savannah stepped in, somewhat the worse for
brandy; he shook hands with my master, and pre-
tended to know all about him. He said, "I know
his kin (friends) like a book;" and as the officer
was known in Charleston, and was going to stop
there with friends, the recognition was very much
in my master's favor.
The captain of the steamer, a good-looking, jovial
fellow, seeing that the gentleman appeared to know
my master, and perhaps not wishing to lose us as
passengers, said in an off-hand sailor-like manner,
"I will register the gentleman's name, and take
the responsibility upon myself." He asked my
master's name. He said, "William Johnson." The
names were put down, I think, "Mr. Johnson and
slave." The captain said, "It's all right now, Mr.
Johnson." He thanked him kindly, and the young
officer begged my master to go with him, and have
something to drink and a cigar; but as he had not
acquired these accomplishments, he excused him-
self, and we went on board and came off to Wil-
mington, North Carolina. When the gentleman
finds out his mistake, he will, I have no doubt, be
careful in future not to pretend to have an intimate
acquaintance with an entire stranger. During the
voyage the captain said, "It was rather sharp
shooting this morning, Mr. Johnson. It was not
out of any disrespect to you, sir; but they make it
a rule to be very strict at Charleston. I have
known families to be detained there with their
slaves till reliable information could be received
respecting them. If they were not very careful,
any d----d abolitionist might take off a lot of valuable
niggers."
My master said, "I suppose so," and thanked
him again for helping him over the difficulty.
We reached Wilmington the next morning, and
took the train for Richmond, Virginia. I have
stated that the American railway carriages (or cars,
as they are called), are constructed differently to
those in England. At one end of some of them, in
the South, there is a little apartment with a couch
on both sides for the convenience of families and
invalids; and as they thought my master was
very poorly, he was allowed to enter one of these
apartments at Petersburg, Virginia, where an old
gentleman and two handsome young ladies, his
daughters, also got in, and took seats in the same
carriage. But before the train started, the gentle-
man stepped into my car, and questioned me respect-
ing my master. He wished to know what was the
matter with him, where he was from, and where he
was going. I told him where he came from, and
said that he was suffering from a complication of
complaints, and was going to Philadelphia, where
he thought he could get more suitable advice than
in Georgia.
The gentleman said my master could obtain the
very best advice in Philadelphia. Which turned
out to be quite correct, though he did not receive
it from physicians, but from kind abolitionists who
understood his case much better. The gentleman
also said, "I reckon your master's father hasn't any
more such faithful and smart boys as you." "O,
yes, sir, he has," I replied, "lots on 'em." Which
was literally true. This seemed all he wished to
know. He thanked me, gave me a ten-cent piece,
and requested me to be attentive to my good
master. I promised that I would do so, and have
ever since endeavoured to keep my pledge. During
the gentleman's absence, the ladies and my master
had a little cosy chat. But on his return, he said,
"You seem to be very much afflicted, sir." "Yes,
sir," replied the gentleman in the poultices.
"What seems to be the matter with you, sir; may
I be allowed to ask?" "Inflammatory rheumatism,
sir." "Oh! that is very bad, sir," said the kind
gentleman: "I can sympathise with you; for I know
from bitter experience what the rheumatism is."
If he did, he knew a good deal more than Mr.
Johnson.
The gentleman thought my master would feel
better if he would lie down and rest himself; and as
he was anxious to avoid conversation, he at once
acted upon this suggestion. The ladies politely
rose, took their extra shawls, and made a nice
pillow for the invalid's head. My master wore a
fashionable cloth cloak, which they took and covered
him comfortably on the couch. After he had been
lying a little while the ladies, I suppose, thought
he was asleep; so one of them gave a long sigh, and
said, in a quiet fascinating tone, "Papa, he seems to
be a very nice young gentleman." But before papa
could speak, the other lady quickly said, "Oh!
dear me, I never felt so much for a gentleman in
my life!" To use an American expression, "they
fell in love with the wrong chap."
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