Thirty Years a Slave

Thirty Years a Slave

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Thirty Years a Slave, by Louis Hughes
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Title: Thirty Years a Slave
Author: Louis Hughes
Release Date: December 10, 2003 [eBook #10431]
Language: English
Character set encoding: US-ASCII
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THIRTY
YEARS A SLAVE***
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Transcriber's note: The inconsistent spellings of the original have been
retained in this etext.

THIRTY YEARS A SLAVE
From Bondage to Freedom.
THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY AS SEEN ON THE
PLANTATION AND IN THE HOME OF THE PLANTER.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LOUIS HUGHES.

PREFACE.
The institution of human slavery, as it existed in this country, has long
been dead; and, happily for all the sacred interests which it assailed,
there is for it no resurrection. It may, therefore, be asked to what
purpose is the story which follows, of the experiences of one person

under that dead and accursed institution? To such question, if it be
asked, it may be answered that the narrator presents his story in
compliance with the suggestion of friends, and in the hope that it may
add something of accurate information regarding the character and
influence of an institution which for two hundred years dominated the
country--exercising a potent but baneful influence in the formation of
its social, civil and industrial structures, and which finally plunged it
into the most stupendous civil war which the world has ever known. As
the enlightenment of each generation depends upon the thoughtful
study of the history of those that have gone before, everything which
tends to fullness and accuracy in that history is of value, even though it
be not presented with the adjuncts of literary adornment, or thrilling
scenic effects.

CHAPTER I.
LIFE ON A COTTON PLANTATION.
* * * * *
BIRTH--SOLD IN A RICHMOND SLAVE PEN.
I was born in Virginia, in 1832, near Charlottesville, in the beautiful
valley of the Rivanna river. My father was a white man and my mother
a negress, the slave of one John Martin. I was a mere child, probably
not more than six years of age, as I remember, when my mother, two
brothers and myself were sold to Dr. Louis, a practicing physician in
the village of Scottsville. We remained with him about five years, when
he died, and, in the settlement of his estate, I was sold to one
Washington Fitzpatrick, a merchant of the village. He kept me a short
time when he took me to Richmond, by way of canal-boat, expecting to
sell me; but as the market was dull, he brought me back and kept me
some three months longer, when he told me he had hired me out to
work on a canal-boat running to Richmond, and to go to my mother and
get my clothes ready to start on the trip. I went to her as directed, and,
when she had made ready my bundle, she bade me good-by with tears
in her eyes, saying: "My son, be a good boy; be polite to every one, and

always behave yourself properly." It was sad to her to part with me,
though she did not know that she was never to see me again, for my
master had said nothing to her regarding his purpose and she only
thought, as I did, that I was hired to work on the canal-boat, and that
she should see me occasionally. But alas! We never met again. I can
see her form still as when she bade me good-bye. That parting I can
never forget. I ran off from her as quickly as I could after her parting
words, for I did not want her to see me crying. I went to my master at
the store, and he again told me that he had hired me to work on the
canal-boat, and to go aboard immediately. Of the boat and the trip and
the scenes along the route I remember little--I only thought of my
mother and my leaving her.
When we arrived at Richmond, George Pullan, a "nigger-trader," as he
was called, came to the boat and began to question me, asking me first
if I could remember having had the chickenpox, measles or
whooping-cough. I answered, yes. Then he asked me if I did not want
to take a little walk with him. I said, no. "Well," said he, "you have got
to go. Your master sent you down here to be sold, and told me to come
and