The ongoing project to give slaves an identity

A future Confederate general tries to find a runaway

The original idea for “Identifying Slaves” was to include 15-20 short stories of the slaves who helped build the United States with their sweat and blood.

In fact, that first column included just 14 slave stories, primarily because the first entry became far too long as I began to include all the information to which I had access. It seems wrong, somehow, to leave even one bit of information out. One never knows what one fact might lead someone to recognize a person who might be a part of their family tree.

That is one of the main purposes of this newsletter, to help people connect with their forebears.

With that in mind, I’m resetting expectations. Each entry will include between 10-15 slave stories. I am still in the process of compiling information and probably not halfway through uncovering them all.

Now, on to this week’s stories.

Henry (last name unknown) was arrested in Lowndes, County, Miss. sometime before March 24, 1840. At the end of July of that year he was still in the county jail, waiting for the slave owner, Wm. B. Solomon, to pay his charges and claim him.

There was no indication that this ever happened, which would have meant that he would have been sold at a public auction. He would not have merely been allowed to sit in a jail cell but would have been rented out to earn his “keep.”

Notice of his arrest appeared in the Columbus (Miss.) Southern Argus on July 27, 1840.

Harriet Folke, a 22-year-old slave, was arrested in Washington County, Maryland on March 20, 1829.

She was described as 5-1 and a “very bright copper color.” She said she ran away from slave owner Joseph Glass Cocke, near Paris, Fauquier County Virginia, in the far northern part of that state.

Glass Cocke, spelled Glascocke in modern sources, was the founder of Paris, Virginia, which is today an unincorporated area.

Folke had with her what would have been considered “normal” clothing for a slave at that time: Two white cambrick frocks, a calico frock and a cambrick bonnet. Cambrick is a rough cotton fabric that, while not particularly comfortable, does last. The cambric cloth made today is still cotton but much more refined.

The notice appeared in the Hagerstown (Md.) Torchlight and Public Advertiser on May 21, 1829.

In that newspaper on the same day was notice that the slave Anthony (last name unavailable) was arrested, having run away from a plantation in what was then Shepherdstown, Va., but is now in West Virginia.

Shepherdstown is also close to Sharpstown, Md., site of the bloody Civil War battle of Antietam.

Anthony said he belonged to slave owner Matthew Richards.

He was described as 5-6, “pretty black,” and about 60 years old, which was extremely old for a slave.

Slave owner E. Dardeau of Pine Prairie, La., gave notice that his slave, Charles (last name unavailable) had run away from his plantation on the night of Nov. 20, 1855.

Pine Prairie is a village in Evangeline Parish between Alexandria and Lafayette and not close to any other town of size. Today, about 1,800 people live there.

Charles was described as about 30 years old, 5-9, and having the top half of the thumb on his right hand cut off.

He spoke both French and English.

The notice was printed in the Opelousas (La.) Courier on Jan. 26, 1856.

Another slave named Charles, but not the same man as in the previous story, was listed in the Opelousas (La.) Courier more than a year later as having run away from William Wallace, a slave owner from Missouri.

Wallace was said to be a “horse drover,” which likely meant that Charles helped him drive herds of horses from place to place. Charles did not run away from Missouri but while he was in New Iberia Parish in September of 1887.

Charles was described as 5-5, of “griffe color” and about 21 years old. He spoke only English — an important distinction in southern Louisiana — and had a scar near the corner of his right eye.

Wallace had 60 days to respond to the notice before Charles would have been transferred to the General State Depot at Baton Rouge.

Joseph Scallorn of Looxahoma, Miss., reported that his slave, a man named Julius (last name unavailable) had run away from his home sometime before July 1859.

Julius was described as 28 years old, 5-6, weighing about 150 pounds and with a dark complexion. He had no scars or other descriptive marks.

Julius could both read and write “tolerably well,” which are two talents that slave owners did not want to teach.

Scallorn believed that Julius had returned to Kentucky where he was raised, thus ran this notice in the Louisville (Ken.) Daily Courier on July 27, 1859.

For whatever reason, notices for runaway slaves dropped dramatically as the Civil War approached. Why is not clear. Perhaps slaves, who were well aware of the dissension of the nation made a decision to see what would happen, or it could be that runaways continued apace but simply were no longer being advertised.

 

Francis Mitchell was reported as a runaway in the Augusta (Ga.) Daily Constitutionalist and Republic on March 28, 1847.

While a former owner, Wm. Loundes, is named, there is no current slave holder identified in the notice.

Mitchell is described as a dark mulatto — a mix of Black and white — about 5-9, bushy black hair, “inclined to baldness around the crown.”

Mitchell was a tailor, which made him more valuable than the field hand designation of most slaves. He would have been one of the few. That trade would also have been one that, had he been free, would have allowed him to earn his own living.

He understandably chaffed against being owned as a piece of property, however. The notice indicates that he was a multiple runaway, having used papers, “most miserably forged.” Those forgeries are one reason why slave holders worked hard to keep slaves from learning to read and write.

William Cook, likely not his real name, had a great many travels from the time he escaped slave owner James Jones of Fredericksburg, Va. until the time he was arrested in Pensacola, Fla. In April 1840.

Under Jones’ control, he was made a cook — which is probably the basis for his last name. Cook escaped captivity to serve in the same capacity on board the schooner Mary Ellen. The captain of that ship, only identified as Capt. Scott, sailed to Baltimore and from there to Apalachicola in Florida with the next stop Pensacola.

He was described as 23 years old, 5-6, black complexion and “full hazel eyes.”

Notice of his arrest was posted by Peter Woodbine, a deputy sheriff, on April 25, 1840.

Joe was arrested for being a runaway slave on April 16, 1840, in Chicot County, Ark., naming William F. Smith of Jefferson County, Miss. as the slave holder.

Joe (last name unavailable) was described as 5-6, dark copper complexion and “appears to be a very well disposed negro,” though it is not clear what that means. Joe could read to some degree, according to the notice and was from 22 to 25 years old.

The notice — dated July 8, 1840 in the Weekly Arkansas Gazette — included word from Sheriff Wilford Garner that Smith had not come forward to claim Joe and that the slave would be sold at auction on July 18, 1840 to the highest bidder with cash.

In the same day in the same newspaper, was notice that Charles had been arrested on April 5, 1840 as a runaway and that he, too, would be sold at auction 10 days later.

Charles (last name unavailable) said he ran away from William Redmund of Kentucky, who owned a plantation near Paulding, Miss.

Charles was described as “very black,” from 28-30 years old with several scars on his chest. The notice says, “he also appears to have been whipped considerably.”

Redmund did not come from Kentucky to claim Joe.

The third notice in the Weekly Arkansas Gazette that day was offering a $50 reward for the capture of Rebecca (last name unavailable), who escaped from a plantation owned by Albert Pike.

Since the Confederate Gen. Albert Pike lived in Arkansas, it seems quite likely that this is the same man who advertised for this runaway slave.

Rebecca was described as tall and good looking, with sharp features, high cheek bones, a large head and being 22 years old.

Pike bought her from Green Lee Rowland in Saline County, Ark., just west of Little Rock.

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