Narrative of the Life and Adventures of Henry Bibb, an American Slave, Written by Himself by Henry Bibb

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I have often suffered from the sting of the cruel slave driver's lash
on my quivering flesh--I have suffered from corporeal punishment in
its various forms--I have mingled my sorrows with those that were
bereaved by the ungodly soul drivers--and I also know what it is to
shed the sympathetic tear at the grave of a departed friend; but all
this is but a mere trifle compared with my sufferings from then to the
end of six months subsequent.

The second night while I was in jail, two slaves came to the dungeon
grates about the dead hour of night, and called me to the grates to
have some conversation about Canada, and the facilities for getting
there. They knew that I had travelled over the road, and they were
determined to run away and go where they could be free. I of course
took great pleasure in giving them directions how and where to go, and
they started in less than a week from that time and got clear to
Canada. I have seen them both since I came back to the north myself.
They were known by the names of King and Jack.

The third day I was brought out of the prison to be carried off with
my little family to the Louisville slave market. My hands were
fastened together with heavy irons, and two men to guard me with
loaded rifles, one of whom led the horse upon which I rode. My wife
and child were set upon another nag. After we were all ready to start
my old master thought I was not quite safe enough, and ordered one of
the boys to bring him a bed cord from the store. He then tied my feet
together under the horse, declaring that if I flew off this time, I
should fly off with the horse.

Many tears were shed on that occasion by our friends and relatives,
who saw us dragged off in irons to be sold in the human flesh market.
No tongue could express the deep anguish of my soul when I saw the
silent tear drops streaming down the sable cheeks of an aged slave
mother, at my departure; and that too, caused by a black hearted
traitor who was himself a slave:

"I love the man with a feeling soul.
Whose passions are deep and strong;
Whose cords, when touched with a kindred power,
Will vibrate loud and long:

"The man whose word is bond and law--
Who ne'er for gold or power,
Would kiss the hand that would stab the heart
In adversity's trying hour."

"I love the man who delights to help
The panting, struggling poor:
The man that will open his heart,
Nor close against the fugitive at his door.

"Oh give me a heart that will firmly stand,
When the storm of affliction shall lower--
A hand that will never shrink, if grasped,
In misfortune's darkest hour."

As we approached the city of Louisville, we attracted much attention,
my being tied and handcuffed, and a person leading the horse upon
which I rode. The horse appeared to be much frightened at the
appearance of things in the city, being young and skittish. A carriage
passing by jammed against the nag, which caused him to break from the
man who was leading him, and in his fright throw me off backwards. My
hands being confined with irons, and my feet tied under the horse with
a rope, I had no power to help myself. I fell back off of the horse
and could not extricate myself from this dreadful condition; the horse
kicked with all his might while I was tied so close to his rump that
he could only strike me with his legs by kicking.

The breath was kicked out of my body, but my bones were not broken. No
one who saw my situation would have given five dollars for me. It was
thought by all that I was dead and would never come to life again.
When the horse was caught the cords were cut from my limbs, and I was
rubbed with whiskey, camphor, &c, which brought me to life again.

Many bystanders expressed sympathy for me in my deplorable condition,
and contempt for the tyrant who tied me to the young horse.

I was then driven through the streets of the city with my little
family on foot, to jail, wherein I was locked with handcuffs yet on. A
physician was then sent for, who doctored me several days before I was
well enough to be sold in market.

The jail was one of the most disagreeable places I ever was confined
in. It was not only disagreeable on account of the filth and dirt of
the most disagreeable kind; but there were bed-bugs, fleas, lice and
musquitoes in abundance, to contend with. At night we had to lie down
on the floor in this filth. Our food was very scanty, and of the most
inferior quality. No gentleman's dog would eat what we were compelled
to eat or starve.

I had not been in this prison many days before Madison Garrison, the
soul driver, bought me and my family to sell again in the New Orleans
slave market. He was buying up slaves to take to New Orleans. So he
took me and my little family to the work-house, to be kept under lock
and key at work until he had bought up as many as he wished to take
off to the South.

The work-house of Louisville was a very large brick building, built on
the plan of a jail or State's prison, with many apartments to it,
divided off into cells wherein prisoners were locked up after night.
The upper apartments were occupied by females, principally. This
prison was enclosed by a high stone wall, upon which stood watchmen
with loaded guns to guard the prisoners from breaking out, and on
either side there were large iron gates.

When Garrison conducted me with my family to the prison in which we
were to be confined until he was ready to take us to New Orleans, I
was shocked at the horrid sight of the prisoners on entering the yard.
When the large iron gate or door was thrown open to receive us, it was
astonishing to see so many whites as well as colored men loaded down
with irons, at hard labor, under the supervision of overseers.

Some were sawing stone, some cutting stone, and others breaking stone.
The first impression which was made on my mind when I entered this
place of punishment, made me think of hell, with all its terrors of
torment; such as "weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth," which was
then the idea that I had of the infernal regions from oral
instruction. And I doubt whether there can be a better picture of it
drawn, than may be sketched from an American slave prison.

In this prison almost every prisoner had a heavy log chain riveted
about his leg. It would indeed be astonishing to a Christian man to
stand in that prison one half hour and hear and see the contaminating
influences of Southern slavery on the body and mind of man--you may
there find almost every variety of character to look on. Some singing,
some crying, some praying, and others swearing. The people of color
who were in there were slaves, there without crime, but for safe
keeping, while the whites were some of the most abandoned characters
living. The keeper took me up to the anvil block and fastened a chain
about my leg, which I had to drag after me both day and night during
three months. My labor was sawing stone; my food was coarse corn bread
and beef shanks and cows heads with pot liquor, and a very scanty
allowance of that.

I have often seen the meat spoiled when brought to us, covered with
flies and fly blows, and even worms crawling over it, when we were
compelled to eat it, or go without any at all. It was all spread out
on a long table in separate plates; and at the sound of a bell, every
one would take his plate, asking no questions. After hastily eating,
we were hurried back to our work, each man dragging a heavy log chain
after him to his work.

About a half hour before night they were commanded to stop work, take
a bite to eat, and then be locked up in a small cell until the next
morning after sunrise. The prisoners were locked in, two together. My
bed was a cold stone floor with but little bedding! My visitors were
bed-bugs and musquitoes.

CHAPTER VIII.

_Character of my prison companions.--Jail breaking
contemplated.--Defeat of our plan.--My wife and child
removed.--Disgraceful proposal to her, and cruel punishment.--Our
departure in a coffle for New Orleans.--Events of our journey._

Most of the inmates of this prison I have described, were white men
who had been sentenced there by the law, for depredations committed by
them. There was in that prison, gamblers, drunkards, thieves, robbers,
adulterers, and even murderers. There were also in the female
department, harlots, pick-pockets, and adulteresses. In such company,
and under such influences, where there was constant swearing, lying,
cheating, and stealing, it was almost impossible for a virtuous person
to avoid pollution, or to maintain their virtue. No place or places in
this country can be better calculated to inculcate vice of every kind
than a Southern work house or house of correction.

After a profligate, thief, or a robber, has learned all that they can
out of the prison, they might go in one of those prisons and learn
something more--they might properly be called robber colleges; and if
slaveholders understood this they would never let their slaves enter
them. No man would give much for a slave who had been kept long in one
of these prisons.

I have often heard them telling each other how they robbed houses, and
persons on the high way, by knocking them down, and would rob them,
pick their pockets, and leave them half dead. Others would tell of
stealing horses, cattle, sheep, and slaves; and when they would be
sometimes apprehended, by the aid of their friends, they would break
jail. But they could most generally find enough to swear them clear of
any kind of villany. They seemed to take great delight in telling of
their exploits in robbery. There was a regular combination of them who
had determined to resist law, wherever they went, to carry out their
purposes.

In conversing with myself, they learned that I was notorious for
running away, and professed sympathy for me. They thought that I
might yet get to Canada, and be free, and suggested a plan by which I
might accomplish it; and one way was, to learn to read and write, so
that I might write myself a pass ticket, to go just where I pleased,
when I was taken out of the prison; and they taught me secretly all
they could while in the prison.

But there was another plan which they suggested to me to get away from
slavery; that was to break out of the prison and leave my family. I
consented to engage in this plot, but not to leave my family.

By my conduct in the prison, after having been there several weeks, I
had gained the confidence of the keeper, and the turnkey. So much so,
that when I wanted water or anything of the kind, they would open my
door and hand it in to me. One of the turnkeys was an old colored man,
who swept and cleaned up the cells, supplied the prisoners with water,
&c.

On Sundays in the afternoon, the watchmen of the prison were most
generally off, and this old slave, whose name was Stephen, had the
prisoners to attend to. The white prisoners formed a plot to break out
on Sunday in the afternoon, by making me the agent to get the prison
keys from old Stephen.

I was to prepare a stone that would weigh about one pound, tie it up
in a rag, and keep it in my pocket to strike poor old Stephen with,
when he should open my cell door. But this I would not consent to do,
without he should undertake to betray me.

I gave old Stephen one shilling to buy me a water melon, which he was
to bring to me in the afternoon. All the prisoners were to be ready to
strike, just as soon as I opened their doors. When Stephen opened my
door to hand me the melon, I was to grasp him by the collar, raise the
stone over his head, and say to him, that if he made any alarm that I
should knock him down with the stone. But if he would be quiet he
should not be hurt. I was then to take all the keys from him, and lock
him up in the cell--take a chisel and cut the chain from my own leg,
then unlock all the cells below, and let out the other prisoners, who
were all to cut off their chains. We were then to go and let out old
Stephen, and make him go off with us. We were to form a line and march
to the front gate of the prison with a sledge hammer, and break it
open, and if we should be discovered, and there should be any out-cry,
we were all to run and raise the alarm of fire, so as to avoid
detection. But while we were all listening for Stephen to open the
door with the melon, he came and reported that he could not get one,
and handed me back the money through the window. All were
disappointed, and nothing done. I looked upon it as being a fortunate
thing for me, for it was certainly a very dangerous experiment for a
slave, and they could never get me to consent to be the leader in that
matter again.

A few days after, another plot was concocted to to break prison, but
it was betrayed by one of the party, which resulted in the most cruel
punishment to the prisoners concerned in it; and I felt thankful that
my name was not connected with it. They were not only flogged, but
they were kept on bread and water alone, for many days. A few days
after we were put in this prison, Garrison came and took my wife and
child out, I knew not for what purpose, nor to what place, but after
the absence of several days I supposed that he had sold them. But one
morning, the outside door was thrown open, and Malinda thrust in by
the ruthless hand of Garrison, whose voice was pouring forth the most
bitter oaths and abusive language that could be dealt out to a female;
while her heart-rending shrieks and sobbing, was truly melting to the
soul of a father and husband.

The language of Malinda was, "Oh! my dear little child is gone? What
shall I do? my child is gone." This most distressing sound struck a
sympathetic chord through all the prison among the prisoners. I was
not permitted to go to my wife and inquire what had become of little
Frances. I never expected to see her again, for I supposed that she
was sold.

That night, however, I had a short interview with my much abused wife,
who told me the secret. She said that Garrison had taken her to a
private house where he kept female slaves for the basest purposes. It
was a resort for slave trading profligates and soul drivers, who were
interested in the same business.

Soon after she arrived at this place, Garrison gave her to understand
what he brought her there for, and made a most disgraceful assault on
her virtue, which she promptly repeled; and for which Garrison
punished her with the lash, threatening her that if she did not submit
that he would sell her child. The next day he made the same attempt,
which she resisted, declaring that she would not submit to it; and
again he tied her up and flogged her until her garments were stained
with blood.

He then sent our child off to another part of the city, and said he
meant to sell it, and that she should never see it again. He then
drove Malinda before him to the work-house, swearing by his Maker that
she should submit to him or die. I have already described her entrance
in the prison.

Two days after this he came again and took Malinda out of the prison.
It was several weeks before I saw her again, and learned that he had
not sold her or the child. At the same time he was buying up other
slaves to take to New Orleans. At the expiration of three months he
was ready to start with us for the New Orleans slave market, but we
never knew when we were to go, until the hour had arrived for our
departure.

One Sabbath morning Garrison entered the prison and commanded that our
limbs should be made ready for the coffles. They called us up to an
anvill block, and the heavy log chains which we had been wearing on
our legs during three months, were cut off. I had been in the prison
over three months; but he had other slaves who had not been there so
long. The hand-cuffs were then put on to our wrists. We were coupled
together two and two--the right hand of one to the left hand of
another, and a long chain to connect us together.

The other prisoners appeared to be sorry to see us start off in this
way. We marched off to the river Ohio, to take passage on board of the
steamboat Water Witch. But this was at a very low time of water, in
the fall of 1839. The boat got aground, and did not get off that
night; and Garrison had to watch us all night to keep any from getting
away. He also had a very large savage dog, which was trained up to
catch runaway slaves.

We were more than six weeks getting to the city of New Orleans, in
consequence of low water. We were shifted on to several boats before
we arrived at the mouth of the river Ohio. But we got but very little
rest at night. As all were chained together night and day, it was
impossible to sleep, being annoyed by the bustle and crowd of the
passengers on board; by the terrible thought that we were destined to
be sold in market as sheep or oxen; and annoyed by the galling chains
that cramped our wearied limbs on the tedious voyage. But I had
several opportunities to have run away from Garrison before we got to
the mouth of the Ohio river. While they were shifting us from one boat
to another, my hands were some times loosed, until they got us all on
board--and I know that I should have broke away had it not been for
the sake of my wife and child who was with me. I could see no chance
to get them off, and I could not leave them in that condition--and
Garrison was not so much afraid of my running away from him while he
held on to my family, for he knew from the great sacrifices which I
had made to rescue them from slavery, that my attachment was too
strong to run off and leave them in his hands, while there was the
least hope of ever getting them away with me.

CHAPTER IX.

_Our arrival and examination at Vicksburg.--An account of slave
sales.--Cruel punishment with the paddle.--Attempts to sell myself by
Garrison's direction.--Amusing interview with a slave buyer.--Deacon
Whitfield's examination.--He purchases the family.--Character of the
Deacon._

When we arrived at the city of Vicksburg, he intended to sell a
portion of his slaves there, and stopped for three weeks trying to
sell. But he met with very poor success.

We had there to pass through an examination or inspection by a city
officer, whose business it was to inspect slave property that was
brought to that market for sale. He examined our backs to see if we
had been much scarred by the lash. He examined our limbs, to see
whether we were inferior.

As it is hard to tell the ages of slaves, they look in their mouths at
their teeth, and prick up the skin on the back of their hands, and if
the person is very far advanced in life, when the skin is pricked up,
the pucker will stand so many seconds on the back of the hand.

But the most rigorous examinations of slaves by those slave
inspectors, is on the mental capacity. If they are found to be very
intelligent, this is pronounced the most objectionable of all other
qualities connected with the life of a slave. In fact, it undermines
the whole fabric of his chattelhood; it prepares for what slaveholders
are pleased to pronounce the unpardonable sin when committed by a
slave. It lays the foundation for running away, and going to Canada.
They also see in it a love for freedom, patriotism, insurrection,
bloodshed, and exterminating war against American slavery.

Hence they are very careful to inquire whether a slave who is for sale
can read or write. This question has been asked me often by slave
traders, and cotton planters, while I was there for market. After
conversing with me, they have sworn by their Maker, that they would
not have me among their negroes; and that they saw the devil in my
eye; I would run away, &c.

I have frequently been asked also, if I had ever run away; but
Garrison would generally answer this question for me in the negative.
He could have sold my little family without any trouble, for the sum
of one thousand dollars. But for fear he might not get me off at so
great an advantage, as the people did not like my appearance, he could
do better by selling us all together. They all wanted my wife, while
but very few wanted me. He asked for me and my family twenty-five
hundred dollars, but was not able to get us off at that price.

He tried to speculate on my Christian character. He tried to make it
appear that I was so pious and honest that I would not runaway for ill
treatment; which was a gross mistake, for I never had religion enough
to keep me from running away from slavery in my life.

But we were taken from Vicksburgh, to the city of New Orleans, were we
were to be sold at any rate. We were taken to a trader's yard or a
slave prison on the corner of St. Joseph street. This was a common
resort for slave traders, and planters who wanted to buy slaves; and
all classes of slaves were kept there for sale, to be sold in private
or public--young or old, males or females, children or parents,
husbands or wives.

Every day at 10 o'clock they were exposed for sale. They had to be in
trim for showing themselves to the public for sale. Every one's head
had to be combed, and their faces washed, and those who were inclined
to look dark and rough, were compelled to wash in greasy dish water,
in order to make them look slick and lively.

When spectators would come in the yard, the slaves were ordered out to
form a line. They were made to stand up straight, and look as
sprightly as they could; and when they were asked a question, they had
to answer it as promptly as they could, and try to induce the
spectators to buy them. If they failed to do this, they were severely
paddled after the spectators were gone. The object for using the
paddle in the place of a lash was, to conceal the marks which would be
made by the flogging. And the object for flogging under such
circumstances, is to make the slaves anxious to be sold.

The paddle is made of a piece of hickory timber, about one inch thick,
three inches in width, and about eighteen inches in length. The part
which is applied to the flesh is bored full of quarter inch auger
holes; and every time this is applied to the flesh of the victim, the
blood gushes through the holes of the paddle, or a blister makes its
appearance. The persons who are thus flogged, are always stripped
naked, and their hands tied together. They are then bent over double,
their knees are forced between their elbows, and a stick is put
through between the elbows and the bend of the legs, in order to hold
the victim in that position, while the paddle is applied to those
parts of the body which would not be so likely to be seen by those who
wanted to buy slaves.

I was kept in this prison for several months, and no one would buy me
for fear I would run away. One day while I was in this prison,
Garrison got mad with my wife, and took her off in one of the rooms,
with his paddle in hand, swearing that he would paddle her; and I
could afford her no protection at all, while the strong arm of the
law, public opinion and custom, were all against me. I have often
heard Garrison say, that he had rather paddle a female, than eat when
he was hungry--that it was music for him to hear them scream, and to
see their blood run.

After the lapse of several months, he found that he could not dispose
of my person to a good advantage, while he kept me in that prison
confined among the other slaves. I do not speak with vanity when I say
the contrast was so great between myself and ordinary slaves, from the
fact that I had enjoyed superior advantages, to which I have already
referred. They have their slaves classed off and numbered.

Garrison came to me one day and informed me that I might go out
through the city and find myself a master. I was to go to the Hotels,
boarding houses, &c.--tell them that my wife was a good cook,
wash-woman, &c,--and that I was a good dining room servant, carriage
driver, or porter--and in this way I might find some gentleman who
would buy us both; and that this was the only hope of our being sold
together.

But before starting me out, he dressed me up in a suit of his old
clothes, so as to make me look respectable, and I was so much better
dressed than usual that I felt quite gay. He would not allow my wife
to go out with me however, for fear we might get away. I was out every
day for several weeks, three or four hours in each day, trying to
find a new master, but without success.

Many of the old French inhabitants have taken slaves for their wives,
in this city, and their own children for their servants. Such commonly
are called Creoles. They are better treated than other slaves, and I
resembled this class in appearance so much that the French did not
want me. Many of them set their mulatto children free, and make
slaveholders of them.

At length one day I heard that there was a gentleman in the city from
the State of Tennessee, to buy slaves. He had brought down two rafts
of lumber for market, and I thought if I could get him to buy me with
my family, and take us to Tennessee, from there, I would stand a
better opportunity to run away again and get to Canada, than I would
from the extreme South.

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