Today’s Fiendish Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
Nowhere does the irrationality of slavery appear as clearly as in the way that slaves were punished. While generally speaking a slaveholder had no desire to punish his slave so severely as to endanger his life, the master was only a man, subject, like most men, to miscalculations, to anger, to sadism, and to drink. When angry, masters frequently kicked, slapped, cuffed, or boxed the ears of domestic servants, sometimes flogged pregnant women, and often punished slaves so cruelly that it took them weeks to recover. Many slaves reported that they were flogged severely, had iron weights with bells on them placed on their necks, or were shackled. Recalcitrant slaves received more stripes and were treated more cruelly by exasperated planters than were any other blacks. Moses Roper, an incorrigible runaway, regularly received 100 to 200 lashes from his owner. Once his master poured tar on his head and set it afire. On another occasion, after Roper had escaped from leg irons, his master had the nails on his fingers and toes beaten off. Since every white man considered himself the slave’s policeman, the black also suffered at the hands of non-slaveholders. Josiah Henson, for example, accidentally pushed a white man who later broke his arm and shoulder blades.
Uncompromisingly harsh, the portrait which the slaves drew of cruel masters was filled with brutality and horror. On the plantations of these masters, strong black men suffered from overwork, abuse, and starvation; and the overseer’s horn usually sounded before sleep could chase the fatigue of the last day’s labor. Characteristically, stocks closed on hapless women and children, mothers cried for the infants torn cruelly from their arms, and whimpering black women fought vainly to preserve their virtue in the face of the lash or pleaded for mercy while blood flowed from their bare buttocks. A cacophony of horrendous sounds constantly reverberated throughout such plantations; nauseated black men vomited while strung up over slowly burning tobacco leaves, vicious dogs tore black flesh, black men moaned as they were hung up by the thumbs with the whip raising deep welts on their backs and as they were bent over barrels or tied down to stakes while paddles with holes in them broke blisters on their rumps. Frequently blacks called God’s name in vain as they fainted from their master’s hundredth stroke or as they had their brains blown out. The slaves described masters of this stripe as besotted, vicious, deceitful, coarse, licentious, bloodthirsty, heartless, and hypocritical Christians who were pitiless fiends.
The first impulse of the historian is to reject the slave’s portrait as too harsh. There is, however, a great deal of evidence in antebellum court records, newspapers, memoirs, and plantation diaries which suggests that this is not the case. However much it is denied by Southern romantics, there were many slaveholders who were moral degenerates and sadists. Quite frequently, even the most cultured of planters were so inured to brutality that they thought little about the punishment meted out to slaves. Floggings of 50 to 75 lashes were not uncommon. On numerous occasions, planters branded, stabbed, tarred and feathered, burned, shackled, tortured, maimed, crippled, mutilated, and castrated their slaves. Thousands of slaves were flogged so severely that they were permanently scarred. In Mississippi a fiendish planter once administered 1,000 lashes to a slave.
“Whipped Peter” photographed in 1863
Culled from: The Slave Community
Accident Du Jour!
Thanks to Strange Company I am now aware of the existence of a children’s book entitled “The Book of Accidents or Warnings to the Heedless” (1836). This delightful creation is an example of 19th century small booklets that were often mass produced and sold on the streets. These “chapbooks” as they are called, were produced and sold cheap so as to make them more accessible to children of all socioeconomic statuses. Because of this, the quality of the paper is usually poor with nothing but thread holding the sheets together. Ultimately the chapbooks of the 19th century evolved into the timeless and still popular comics of the early 20th century. Also, look how tiny it is!
I found The Book of Accidents online and thought I’d share an accident a day. You can see where Edward Gorey got his inspiration for The Gashlycrumb Tinies!
CRUSHED BY A CART.
Caroline Jones was another heedless child. She had been told repeatedly, by her mamma, not to cross the street without looking one way and the other to see if there were horses coming. But Caroline paid little or no attention to the kind admonitions of her mother. One day she saw a young friend on the opposite side of the way, and so off she started to meet her, with out looking to see if the road was clear; a loaded cart was just then passing, and Caroline stumbled and fell; the wheel passed over her and crushed her to death instantly.
Andersonville Prisoner Diary Entry Du Jour!
This is the continuation of the 1864 diary of Andersonville prisoner Private George A. Hitchcock (see the archived version for all entries up until now).
Here’s today’s entry:
July 8th. Very warm. Several hundred prisoners from Grant’s army and James Island came in, which made unusual commotion outside. One poor fellow of our squad died of diarrhea during the night. A large prayer-meeting was held near us, to which many a poor fellow delighted to crawl: every moment of the time was taken up in prayer, which went up from earnest hearts.
Culled from: Andersonville: Giving Up the Ghost