From A HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA CONTAINING SKETCHES OF PROMINENT FAMILIES AND DISTINGUISHED MEN WITH AN APPENDIX BY REV. JETHRO RUMPLE PUBLISHED BY J. J. BRUNER SALISBURY, N. C. 1881 Copyright DMK Heritage 2004 The following are excerpts from the above-mentioned book. Pages 204 - 208 CHAPTER XXV AFRICAN SLAVERY The history of society in Rowan County would not be complete without a glimpse at the system of domestic slavery as it existed here from the first establishment of the county. The early settlers were slaveholders, and on the register’s volumes you will find here and there a “Bill of Sale” for a negro slave, and in the volumes of Wills you will see how the fathers of the early days bequeathed the negro man Pompey, or Caesar, or Ned, or Foe, to one son, and Scipio, or Hannibal, or Cato, or Adam to anther son, while their daughters received bequests of negro girls and women, by the names of Bet and Sal, Luse and Dinah. The question may sometimes have been raised in their minds whether it was right to hold men and women in perpetual slavery; but when they opened their Bibles and read how Abraham bought slaves and had slaves born in his house; and how Moses, by divine direction, provided for the release and redemption of Hebrew slaves, but left no provision for the release of the slave of foreign birth, but allowed him to be bought and sold at the will of their masters; and when they read how slavery was recognized by Christ and his apostles, their doubts as to the rightfulness of the institution in the sight of God vanished. They did not feel themselves responsible for its introduction among them. That had been accomplished a hundred years and more before their time, when the Dutch sold slaves to the Virginians at Jamestown, in 1620, or when citizens of Massachusetts, in 1636, built a slave ship at Marblehead and sent it to Africa for slaves. Barncroft relates that the representatives of the people ordered the negroes to be restored to their native land, and imposed a fine twice the price of a negro upon anyone who should hold any “black mankind” to perpetual service. He, however, ingeniously admits that the law was not enforced, and that there was a disposition in the people of the colony to buy negroes and hold them as slaves forever (History United States, Vol. 1, Chapter 5). Stephens, in his History, states that many of the most prominent men of the Colony of Massachusetts purchased slaves out of the first cargo brought from Africa, in 1638, in the Marblehead slave ship, “Desire.” As population drifted into North Carolina, slavery came along with it-from Virginia, from Pennsylvania, and from more Northern States. And when, in time, it was discovered that slavery was 205 HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY an unprofitable institution in the bleaker regions of New England, and the moral sentiments of the people began to recognize it as unlawful=2 0as well as unprofitable, many of the slaves were sold off to more genial latitudes. The mild climate, the fertile soil, and the unreclaimed wilderness of North Carolina furnished an inviting field for the employment of slave labor. And in general, just as fast as the early settlers accumulated enough money to purchase a slave, it was expended in that way. This was peculiarly the case with the English and Scotch-Irish settlers, and the immigrants from Virginia, but not so prevalent among the German settlers, though many of them also followed the same practice. As stated before, the records of the early days of Rowan show the presence of slaves in the county. At the first census, in 1790, there were 1,839 negroes in the county, including the territory now embraced in Davidson and Davie, as well as Rowan. In 1800 there were 2,874 negroes. In 1830 the number had increased to 6,324. The separation of Davie and Davidson Counties reduced the number to 3,463 in 1840, and it rose to 4,066 in 1860. In the last-named year the white population of Rowan was 10,523, or about two and one-half whites to each negro. The character of Rowan County slavery was generally mild and paternal. On a few plantations, probably, where a considerable number of slaves were quartered, and it was necessary to employ an overseer, there was severity of discipline, and hard labor; for the overseer himself was a hireling, and it was important for his popularity that he should make as many barr els of corn and as many bales of cotton as possible, with the least outlay of money and provisions. But even then the overtasked or underfed slave had access to his master, either directly or through the young masters and mistresses, who felt a personal interest in the slave, and would raise such a storm about the ears of a cruel overseer as would effectually secure his dismissal from his post. The slave represented so much money, and aside from consideration of humanity, the prudent and economical owner could not afford to have his slave maltreated and his value impaired. There was of course room for abuse in all this, and there were heartless and tyrannical masters, and there were oppressed and suffering slaves, just as there is tyranny and oppression in every form of social existence in this fallen and ruined world. But with many families, where there were only a few slaves, the evils of servitude were reduced to a minimum. The slave was as warmly clothed, as securely sheltered, and as bountifully fed as his master. He worked in the same field, and at the same kind of work, 206 HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY and the same number of hours. Sometimes the clothing was coarser and the food not so delicate; but often the clothing was from the same loom and the food from the same pot. The negro had his holidays too-his Fourth of July, his Christmas, and his General Muster gala day. And where the family altar was established, evening and morning the neg roes, old and young, brought in their chairs and formed a large circle around the capacious hearth of the hall-room, while the father and master priest opened the big family Bible, and read the words of life from its sacred pages. And when the morning and evening hymn were sung, the negroes, with their musical voices, joined in and sang the “parceled lines” to the tune of Windham or Sessions, Ninety-fifth or Old Hundred. They worshiped in the same church with their masters, comfortably seated in galleries constructed for their use, and when the Lord’s supper was administered, they came forward and sat at the same tables where their masters had sat, and drank the sacred wine from the same cups. In all this we are not affirming that there was social equality, or that the slave was always contented with his lot in life. No doubt be often chafed under the yoke of bondage, and sometimes when his master dealt hardly with him he ran away, and hid in the swamps and thickets, sustaining life by stealing, or by the aid of his fellow servants who sympathized with him and who faithfully kept his secret from his master. Our weekly newspaper used to have pictures of fugitive negroes, with a stick over their shoulders, and with a bundle swinging to it, and the startling heading in large capitals “RUNAWAY.” Something after this style: And many a time white children on their way to or from school, would almost hold their breath as they pa ssed some dark swamp or deserted house, when they remembered that a RUNAWAY had been seen in the neighborhood. Generally the runaway got tired of lying out in a few weeks, especially if winter was near, and voluntarily came home and submitted to whatever punishment was decided upon. 207 HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY Occasionally there were cruel hardships suffered by them. When the thriftless master got in debt, or when the owner died and his estate was sold at vendue, or if the heartless master chose, the negro husband and wife might be separated, or parent and child might be sold from each other, one party falling into the hands of a negro trader, and carried off to Alabama or Mississippi. Such cases occurred at intervals, and under the laws there was no help for it. But in all such cases the feelings of humane and Christian elements of the community were shocked. Generally, however, arrangements were made to purchase, and keep in the neighborhood, all deserving negroes. As sales would come on it was the habit of the negroes to go to some man able to buy them and secure their transfer to a desirable home. Sometimes, however, all this failed, and the “negro trader” having the longest purse would buy and carry off to the West husbands or wives or children against their will. Older citizens remember the gangs of slaves that once marched through our streets with a hand of each fastened to a long chain, in double file, sometimes with sorrowful=2 0look, and sometimes with a mockery of gayety. The house of the trader was, perhaps, a comfortable mansion, in some shady square of town. Near the center of the square, and embowered in trees and vines, was history prison for the unwilling.There a dozen or two were carefully locked up and guarded. Other cabins on the lot contained those who were sub missive and ‘willing to go. On the day of departure for the West the trader would have a grand jollification. A band, or at least a drum and fife, would be called into requisition, and perhaps a little rum be judiciously distributed to heighten the spirits of his sable property, and the neighbors would gather in to see the departure. First of all one or two closely covered wagons would file out from the “barracoon,” containing the rebellious and unwilling, in handcuffs and chains. After them the rest, dressed in comfortable attire, perhaps dancing and laughing, as if they were going on some holiday excursion. At the edge of the town, the file and drum ceased, the pageant faded away, and the curious crowd who had come to witness the scene returned to their homes. After months had rolled away the “trader’s” wagons came back from Montgomery, Memphis, Mobile, or New Orleans, loaded with luxuries for his family. In boxes and bundles, in kegs and caskets, there were silks and laces, watches and jewelry, ribbons and feathers, candies and tropical fruits, wines and cordials, for family us e and luxurious indulgence, all the profits of an accursed traffic in human flesh and blood, human tears and helpless anguish and oppression. This was the horrible 208 HISTORY OF ROWAN COUNTY and abominable side of this form of social institution. It was evil, wretchedly evil. But it had and has its counterpart in the social evils of the poorer classes of all ages and all lands. Multitudes today, by inexorable necessity, by poverty and the demands for certain kinds of service, are as hopelessly enslaved by circumstances as these were by law. This is not alleged as an excuse or apology for a crying evil, but only as an intimation that he who is without sin may consistently throw stones at the vanished specter of African slavery in the Southern States. And glad are we that the specter has vanished from our fair land.