John Washington's Civil War

A Slave Narrative

Crandall Shifflett, Crandall Shifflett

• Editorial: LSU Press
• Año: 2008
• ISBN:
  9780807148044
• Categoría: History
• Categoría: American Civil War History

In 1872, just seven years after his emancipation, a thirty-four-year-old former slave named John Washington penned the story of his life, calling it "Memorys of the Past." One hundred and twenty years later, in the early 1990s, historian Crandall Shifflett stumbled upon Washington's forgotten manuscript at the Library of Congress while researching Civil War Fredericksburg. Over the ensuing decade, Shifflett sought to learn more about this Virginia slave and the people and events he so vividly portrays. John Washington's Civil War presents this remarkable slave narrative in its entirety, together with Shifflett's detailed annotations on the life-changing events Washington records.
While joining the canon of better-known slave narratives by Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and Solomon Northup, Washington's account illuminates a far different world. The son of a slave woman and an unknown white man, Washington never lived outside the seventy-five-mile radius that included Richmond and Fredericksburg, until his emancipation. His narrative spans his experiences as a household slave, a laborer in the Fredericksburg tobacco factory, and a hotel servant on the eve of the Civil War. He also tells of his bold venture across Union lines and his experiences as a slave under Union officers.
Washington's recollections allow for a singular look at the more personal aspects of slave life. Forced attendance at the slaveowner's church, much-anticipated gatherings of neighboring slaves at harvesttime, even a brief episode of courtship among slaves are among the events described in this remarkable narrative. On a broader scale, Washington was a witness to key moments of the Civil War, and his chronicle includes his thoughts about the wider political turmoil surrounding him, including his dramatic account of watching the Union Army mass around Fredericksburg as it prepared to invade the town. An excellent introduction and expert annotations by Shifflett reconstruct Washington's life through his death in 1918 and provide informative historical background and context to Washington's recollections.
An unprecedented window into the life of a Virginia bondsman, John Washington's Civil Warcommunicates with real urgency what it meant to be a slave during a period of extreme crisis that sounded the notes of freedom for some and the end of a way of life for others.

1

Childhood

I Was born (in Fredericksburg Virginia: May 20th 1838.) a Slave to one Thomas R. Ware Sr.* who I never had the pleasure of knowing, (I Suppose it Might have been a doubtful pleasure.) as he died before I was born.

When I was about 2 years of age My Mother (who was also a Slave) was hired to one Richard L. Brown* in Orange County Virginia, about 37 miles from Fredericksburg, and I was taken along with her. But I will not promise to narate the incidents of that Jurney as I did not keep a Diary at that age in a Slave State.* My reccolections of my early childhood has been no doubt the most plasant of my life. My Mother taught me to spell at a very early age (between 4 years and 8)

When at this time of Life I look back to that time and, all its most vivid reccolections I see Myself a Small light haired boy (very often passing easily for a white boy.)* playing Mostly with the white children on the farm, in Summers Evening among the Sweet-Scented cloverfields after the Butterflys Wading the Brooks and with pin hook and line Startling the finny life.

Now in the Great Forrest Surrounded with dogs in quest of the Hare and Opossum, often on the top of Some Neighbouring Mountain trying with My young eyes, to get a View of Fredericksburg in the distant about 37 Miles Eastward, The View from all points was splendid, the Westward View, North and Northwest a few Miles distant was the “Blue Ridge Mountins,” But still nearer was the Rappid Ann River 3 miles distant, the nearest ford being “Willis’ Mills,”* where I used to Stand and Wonder at the River Damed over, and the Great Old Moss covered Wheel Slowly revolving and throwing the Water off in beautiful Showers.

And Orange Court House, where I was carried once behind the family careage, along with the White children to see a Circus. And in the great Crowd during a Violent Thunder Storm I was lost. and the carrage arrived at home Without me. and Mother and all thought I had fallen asleep in My Seat behind the carrage and and [sic] been washed off in the “Mountain Run,” which was very high and had to be forded, by the horses.

I Wanderd about the Street at the Court House. (there was but one Street) until dark and I had began to Cry and Wonder Where I should Sleep, for I did not know any one in the village, and could not think what I should do. and the crowds of Country people were clearing the place very rappidly

When all at once My Godmother found me* and soon had me Safely packed away amoung a lot of Comforts and Countelpins [comforters and counterpanes?] in an Old Lumbering ox cart going to the Next farm to my home. When I arrived safe at about Sunlite next Morning. Amidst great rejoicing.

A Man was just getting ready to come and look for me. I was never allowed to go to another Circus at Orange Court House.

Once in a Month there used to [be] Meetings held for Divine Services (on the 4th Sundays I think) at “Mount Pisgah” Meeting house Situated on the East end of the farm Where Two Roads intersected. I know they were “Baptists,” because the[y] used to Baptize in the Creek close by.

To these Meetings Mother hardly Ever failed to attend and take me with her, the church a Large frame building with Gallerys around for colord people to Sit in. Tall pine trees Surrounded the building and the horses and mules used to be fastened during the Services.

Cakes, Candy and fruits, used to be Sold there under those great pine trees, on Sundays; which, to my Eyes was always a great treat. I loved very much to go to the Meeting House, as it was called then, because I never failed to come home With a load of cakes candy and .c [etc.].

These are my first reccolections of attending a church and to-day in my 35th year the Memory is bright as events of to-day.*

Minute events of my reccolection will not likely interest you, So I must pass on with a glance at some of the Most important events.

Very early in my infantcy Mother taught me that Memorable little childs prayer not yet forgotten:

“Now I lay me down to sleep”*

I pray the lord my Soul to Keep”

and then the “Lords Prayer” when I got older.

The Usual Routine of farm work went on for a long time (it seemed to me).

The slaves were treated kindly,* and every Sunday Morning the weeks Rations were issued to them from the great meal house.

Harvest time a festival of pies and Meats fruits and vegitables would be Set out* in the yard on a great table in the Shade and the reapers and binders, Men and Women Seemed So happy merry and free, for whiskey was not Withheld by the “Boss.”

And then hog killing time (near Christmas)* when great fires were kindled and large Stones made red hot, then placed into great hogs-heads of water until it boiled for Scalding the hogs. and Every body was bussy, noisey and merry. Every one of the Slaves were permitted to raise their own hogs, and fowls, and had a garden of their own from the Eldest Man to Me—

often at night Singing and dancing, prayer Meeting or corn Shucking.

“A corn shucking” is always a Most lively time among the Slaves, they would come for miles around to join in Singing, Shouting and yelling as only a Negro can yell, for a good Supply of Bad Whiskey, corn Bread and Bacon and cabbage.*

At Christmas time Slaves were furnished with their new cloths Hats or Caps Boots and Shoes.

From the oldest to the little children they would be Summonsed to the “great House,” as they called it (the owners) and each Man and Woman would receive their Christmas gift namely Flour, Sugar, Whiskey, Molases etc. according to the number in the family and they would go to their “cabins” and for the next six days have a holiday,* and make thing lively with Egg-nogg, Opossum, Rabbit, Coons and Everything of the kind.

COMMENTS ON CHAPTER 1

I Was born (in Fredericksburg Virginia: May 20th 1838.) a Slave to one Thomas R. Ware Sr. Catherine Ware, age forty-eight, owned no real estate in Spotsylvania County in 1838. Her two sons, Thomas R. Ware, Jr., twenty-three, and William Ware, eighteen, probably lived with her. Much later, in 1860, when the census enumerator visited the home of Catherine Taliaferro (Catherine had married Frank Taliaferro after Ware’s death and he, too, had died by 1860), he found her two sons still living with her in the household: Thomas R. Ware, Jr., now forty-five, a “purser” in the U.S. Navy, and his brother William Ware, now forty, a teller at Farmers’ Bank. The 1860 census showed Catherine with personal property valued at $5,500 with seven slaves in Fredericksburg: a 65-year-old mulatto female, a 37-year-old mulatto female, a 22-year-old mulatto male, an 11-year-old mulatto female, a 9-year-old mulatto male, a 6-year-old mulatto female, and a 2-year-old mulatto female.¹ But this underestimates her wealth because the census account does not include John Washington, his mother, and his four brothers and sisters, not living in the household.

As we will see, the slave populations in other Fredericksburg households were likewise characterized by substantial numbers of mulattoes, indicating a high rate of interracial mixing, a feature of urban slavery in general.²

My Mother (who was also a Slave) was hired to one Richard L. Brown. Unfortunately, a search of census records failed to turn up a Richard L. Brown.³

Washington’s narrative provides some intriguing windows on slave domestic life. His recollections never mention his mother by name; usually he refers to her as “My Mother” or simply “Mother.” It was not unusual for southern children to avoid use of the actual names of their parents or to ignore fathers. After all, women did play a much larger role in the domestic life of southern children, free and slave, black and white, than men. Nor would it have been unusual for Washington to be indifferent to his father’s identity. The primary responsibility for child care and rearing fell almost exclusively to women in both white and slave households. Consequently, children, especially slave children—who often had no other person to fall back upon except their own mother—developed extremely close bonds to their mothers and weak or even nonexistent ties with fathers. The absence of reference to Washington’s father anywhere in the recollections is curious, however, and may mean any of several things: Washington never knew who his father was; he knew his father was a white man, and the subject of interracial sex was taboo; or it was just not important to him to learn his father’s identity because his father had never been around him.

I did not keep a Diary at that age in a Slave State. Keeping a diary, a harmless practice for any white person and scarcely worthy of comment, was an act of defiance for both free blacks and slaves who lived in Virginia in the post–Nat Turner era. As one historian has observed, educated people of the nineteenth century viewed literacy as a “signifier of modernity” and reading as “the best means of acquiring knowledge.” After Turner’s infamous revolt of 1831, a distance just over 120 miles from Fredericksburg Courthouse, planters viewed reading and writing as a dangerous literacy. An 1831 statute declared that “all meetings of free Negroes or mulattoes, at any school house, church meeting house, or any other place for teaching them reading and writing . . . shall be deemed . . . an unlawful assembly.” As in the case of much statutory law dealing with slavery, literacy laws actually policed white behavior. According to the 1860 Code of Virginia: “If a white person assemble with negroes for the purpose of instructing them to read or write . . . he shall be confined in jail not exceeding six months and fined not exceeding one hundred dollars.”⁴ White prohibitions against black literacy grew out of the needs for authority and control. Freedom and equity molded black understandings of literacy, but free blacks and slaves differed on the means to achieve freedom through literacy. In these differences, we can find the seeds of the end-of-the-century debate between Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois over literacy and education.

I see Myself a Small light haired boy (very often passing easily for a white boy.) Washington’s report of his complexion indicates that his father was probably white.⁵ Indeed, he might have been the son of Thomas R. Ware, Sr., although no evidence of his paternity exists. What difference did his mulatto status make in his life? His lighter skin color is probably not the explanation for interracial play. It was not uncommon for slaves, regardless of complexion, to play with white children until about eight to ten years of age, when they entered the fields or became domestic laborers. The offspring of interracial unions sometimes did receive preferential treatment, however. Mulattoes, for example, might be shielded from harsh punishments or the hard labor of field hands, especially by planters with a special interest in their slave offspring. In his case, Washington’s status as a domestic servant is suggestive of favoritism. Unlike his mother, who was hired out as a field hand, Washington remained a house slave for most of his life, except for the short periods when he was hired out to other masters. His surname is also indicative though not conclusive proof of preferential treatment, since slaves typically were known by their first names alone. It is not entirely clear what exactly, whether racial or circumstantial considerations, shaped his particular life course in slavery.

Still nearer was the Rappid Ann River 3 miles distant, the nearest ford being “Willis’ Mills.” Where I grew up, a hundred years after John Washington, just across the road from my grandfather’s house was a large farm owned by Ralph Brown. About two miles away was the Rapidan River and the site of T. O. Gillum’s Mill with an old, moss-covered, dormant wheel. After a century, the name of the mill may have changed, but these may be the same sites or certainly ones very similar to those to which Washington refers. Orange Court House was about five miles away. It was the county seat of Orange County, founded on land taken from neighboring Spotsylvania County in 1734 and named for the sonin-law of George II of Britain, Prince William IV of Orange. In Washington’s day, slaves accounted for 59 percent of a total population of just over 10,000 people in Orange County.⁶ Orange Court House was the focus of local wheat and tobacco production because of railroad lines that connected it with the port city of Alexandria, Virginia.

All at once My Godmother found me. Nothing indicates the identity of this “Godmother.” Who was this angel of mercy who recognized Washington and made arrangements for him to be transported home safely? It might have been a grandmother or an aunt, both of whom he later mentions. It might have been a kind white woman who knew the family. Perhaps it was a woman of color, free or slave, who understood the predicament of a young slave boy lost in an unfamiliar town.

These are my first reccolections of attending a church and to-day in my 35th year the Memory is bright as events of to-day. The report of Washington’s age establishes 1872 or 1873 as the year the recollections were recorded. These memories of attending church on Brown’s farm and general feelings about religion contrast sharply with his later attitudes and behavior in Fredericksburg. Part of the difference is undoubtedly due to a nostalgia which customarily attaches to many early childhood experiences. Washington recalls life as a child before the responsibilities of labor. He distinguishes this very brief pre-slave age in his life by entitling this chapter of his narrative “Childhood.” He was free to play with white children, to roam about, and had yet to comprehend the owner’s use of religion as a means of social control. But it is not just nostalgia that Washington conveys in his recollections about early childhood.

Washington evokes the world of slavery during his youth in unmistakable terms. It is in these recollections that he provides readers with his earliest impressions of slavery. The events he recalls with such passion and vividness conjure up, not the paternal master-slave relationship nor solely slavery’s degradations, but metaphorical images of the slave community itself. That Washington’s warmest and fondest memories are of the slave community and its intimacies confirms how slaves found the means to defeat becoming a mere object of the slaveholder’s will via family break-up, naming practices, forced religion, or other means of social control which masters sought to impose. Slaves strove to keep families together, called one another by their own names in secret, and reconfigured the slaveholders’ Christianity into a theology of emancipation. Here, for example, Washington’s recollections include summer picnics under cool pine trees, baptisms in the creek, and feasts of sweets and baked goods, each of which conjures up memories of slave gatherings.⁷

“Now I lay me down to sleep.” The intimate bond between Washington and his mother is evident here when he records as the first “important event” his mother’s teaching of this well-known child’s prayer.

The slaves were treated kindly. Unlike planters, Washington did not esteem physical treatment, especially as it entails the provision of food, clothing, and shelter, to be the true measure of his slave experience, whether benign or cruel. Generally, the context of physical treatment was bound to masters’ understandings of discipline and control and quite at variance with slave attitudes. To make material needs the measure of slavery, as slaves understood, trivialized liberty and vulgarized life itself. As Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a northern antislavery leader who led a black regiment during the Civil War, noted: “It was not the individuals, but the ownership of which they complained. That they saw to be a wrong which no special kindnesses could right.” A staple of cornmeal and bacon, coarse clothes, and cold, dank, and drafty quarters, although more than an annoyance, were inconsequential to slaves when compared to the blessings of freedom.⁸

Slavery had matured since the Colonial Age; it was now more give and take. One observer has captured day-to-day master-slave relations eloquently, noting that at the heart of all daily encounters was the contest for advantage incessantly pursued, “sometimes noisily, more often quietly; sometimes violently, more often surreptitiously; infrequently with arms, always with the weapons of the mind and soul.”⁹

Harvest time a festival of pies and Meats fruits and vegitables would be Set out. Virginia slaves were used primarily in wheat and corn cultivation, but during the winter months they were employed in other seasonal work, such as preserving meat and grains, tending winter gardens, clearing fallow or overgrown fields, mending fences, and maintaining irrigation and drainage systems.¹⁰ Harvest festivals stimulated warm feelings of community among the slaves while they served simultaneously the master’s bargaining power to demand more from the slaves as repayment for his kindness.

And then hog killing time (near Christmas). These recollections reflect the agricultural rhythms of the hog and corn culture most common to rural Virginia. Corn was usually harvested and the ears fed to hogs to fatten them just prior to butchering. With no artificial refrigerati...