Books: With Lee in Virginia; A Story Of The American Civil War

G >> G.A. Henty >> With Lee in Virginia; A Story Of The American Civil War

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27

"You know, Vincent," his mother said more quietly, "that I object
as much as you do to the ill-treatment of the slaves, and that the
slaves here, as on all well-conducted plantations in Virginia, are
well treated; but this is not a time for bringing in laws or carrying
out reforms. It is bad enough to have scores of Northerners doing
their best to stir up mischief between masters and slaves without a
Southern gentleman mixing himself up in the matter. We have got
to stand together as one people and to protect our State rights from
interference."

"I am just as much in favor of State rights as any one else, mother;
and if, as seems likely, the present quarrel is to be fought out, I
hope I shall do my best for Virginia as well as other fellows of my
own age. But just as I protest against any interference by the
Northerners with our laws, I say that we ought to amend our laws
so as not to give them the shadow of an excuse for interference. It
is brutes like the Jacksons who have afforded the materials for
libels like 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' upon us as a people; and I can't say
that I am a bit sorry for having given that young Jackson what he
deserved."

"Well, I hope there will be no trouble come of it," Mrs. Wingfield
said. "I shouldn't think the Jacksons would like the exposure of
their doings which would be caused by bringing the matter into
court; but if they do, you may be quite sure that a jury in
Richmond at the present time would find against you."

"I don't suppose that they will do anything, mother. But if they
must, they must; and I don't suppose anything serious will come of
it any way."

The next morning Vincent went down early to the stables. As he
approached them Dan came out to meet him.

"Well, Dan, what's your news?"

"Berry great bobbery ober at Jackson's last night, Massa Vincent.
Fust of all I crept round to de huts ob de field hands. Dey all know
nullin bout it; but one of dem he goes off and gets to hab a talk
with a gal employed in do house who was in do habit of slipping
out to see him. She say when do young un war carried in de old
man go on furious; he bring suit against you, he hab you punished
berry much-no saying what he not going to do. After a time do
young un come round, he listen to what the ould man say for some
time; den he answer: 'No use going on like dat. Set all de county
families against us if we have suit. As to dat infernal young
villain, me pay him out some other way.' Den de old man say he
cut de flesh off de bones ob dat nigger; but do young one say:
'Mustn't do dat. You sure to hear about it, and make great bobbery.
Find some odor way to punish him.' Den dey talk together for
some time, but girl not hear any more."

"Well, then, there will be no suit anyhow," Vincent said. "As to
paying me out some other way, I will look after myself, Dan. I
believe that follow Jackson is capable of anything, and I will be on
the lookout for him."

"Be sure you do, Massa Vincent. You ride about a great deal, dat
fellow bery like take a shot at you from behind tree. Don't you go
near dat plantation, or sure enuff trouble come."

"I will look out, Dan. There is one thing, I always ride fast; and it
wants a very good shot to hit one at a gallop. I don't think they
will try that; for if he missed, as he would be almost sure to do, it
would be a good deal worse for him than this affair would have
been had he brought it into court. You keep your ears open, Dan,
and find out how they are thinking of punishing that poor follow
for my interference on his behalf."

After breakfast a negro arrived with a note for Mrs. Wingfield
from Mr. Jackson, complaining of the unwarrantable and illegal
interference by her son on behalf of a slave who was being very
properly punished for gross misconduct; and of the personal
assault upon his son. The writer said that ho was most reluctant to
take legal proceedings against a member of so highly respected a
family, but that it was impossible that ho could submit to such an
outrage as this.

Although Mrs. Wingfield had expressed her disapproval of
Vincent's conduct on the evening before, there was no trace of that
feeling in her reply to this letter. She wrote in the third person,
coldly acknowledging the receipt of Mr. Jackson's letter, and
saying that she had heard from her son of his interference to put a
stop to one of those brutal scenes which brought discredit upon the
Southern States, and that she considered he had most rightly
punished Mr. Jackson, jun., for his inhuman and revolting conduct;
that she was perfectly aware the interference had been technically
illegal, but that her son was fully prepared to defend his conduct if
called upon to do so in the courts, and to pay any fine that might
be inflicted for his suffering himself to be carried away by his
righteous indignation. She ended by saying that as Mr. Jackson
was a stranger in Virginia, he was perhaps not aware that the
public sentiment of that State was altogether opposed to such acts
of brutality as that of which his son had been guilty.

"What have you been doing to that fellow Andrew Jackson?" one
of Vincent's friends, a young fellow two years older than himself,
said to him a few days later. "There wore a lot of us talking over
things yesterday, in Richmond, and he came up and joined in.
Something was said about Abolitionists, and he said that he should
like to see every Abolitionist in the State strung up to a tree. He is
always pretty violent, as you know; but on the present occasion he
went further than usual, and then went on to say that the worst and
most dangerous Abolitionists were not Northern men but
Southerners, who were traitors to their State.

He said: 'For example, there is that young Wingfield. He has been
to England, and has come back with his heart filled with
Abolitionist notions;' and that such opinions at the present time
were a danger to the State.

"Two or three of us took the matter up, as you might guess, and
told him he had better mind what he was saying or it would be the
worse for him. Harry Furniss went so far as to tell. him that he
was a liar, and that if he didn't like that he would have satisfaction
in the usual way. Master Jackson didn't like it, but muttered
something and slunk off. What's the matter between you?"

"I should not have said anything about it," Vincent replied, "if
Jackson had chosen to hold his tongue; but as he chooses to go
about attacking me, there is no reason why I should keep the
matter secret." And he then related what had taken place.

The young Virginian gave a low whistle.

"I don't say I blame you, Wingfield; but I tell you, you might have
got yourself into an awful mess if the Jacksons had chosen to take
it up. You know how hot the feeling is at present, and it is a
serious matter at any time to interfere between a master and his
slaves in the Southern States. Of course among us our feelings
would be all against Jackson; but among the poorer class of
whites, who have been tremendously excited by the speeches, both
in the North and here, the cry of Abolitionist at the present
moment is like a red rag to a bull. However, I understand now the
fellow's enmity to you.

"None of us ever liked him when ho was at school with us. He is
an evil-tempered brute, and I am afraid you may have some trouble
with him. If ho goes about talking as he did to us, he would soon
get up a feeling against you. Of course it would be nonsense to
openly accuse a member of an old Virginian family of being an
Abolitionist; but it would be easy enough to set a pack of the rough
classes of the town against you, and you might get badly mauled if
they caught you alone. The follow is evidently a coward or he
would have taken up what Furniss said; but a coward who is
revengeful is a good deal more dangerous than an open foe.
However, I will talk it over with some of the others, and we will
see if we can't stop Andrew Jackson's mouth."

The result of this was that the next day half a dozen of Vincent's
friends wrote a joint letter to Andrew Jackson, saying that they
regarded his statements respecting Vincent as false and
calumnious, and that if he repeated them they would jointly and
severally hold him responsible; and that if, as a result of such
accusations, any harm happened to Vincent, they should know
where to look for the originator of the mischief, and punish him
accordingly.

"You should be more careful, Andrew," his father said, as white
with fury, he showed him his letter. "It was you who were
preaching prudence the other day, and warning me against taking
steps that would set all the whole country against us; and now, you
see, you have been letting your tongue run, and have drawn this
upon yourself. Keep quiet for the present, my son; all sorts of
things may occur before long, and you will get your chance. Let
this matter sleep for the present."

A day or two later when Vincent went down to the stables ho saw
that Dan had something to tell him, and soon found out that he
wished to speak to him alone.

"What is your news, Dan?"

"I heard last night, Massa Vincent, that old man Jackson is going
to sell Dinah; dat de wife ob do man day flogged."

"They are going to sell her!" Vincent repeated indignantly. "What
are they going to do that for?"

"To punish Tony, sah. Dar am no law against dar selling her. I
hear dat day are going to sell two oder boys, so dat it cannot be
said dat day do it on purpose to spite Tony. I reckon, sah, day
calculate dat when dey sell his wife Tony get mad and run away,
and den when day catch him again day flog him pretty near to
death. Folk always do dat with runaway slaves; no one can say
nuffin agin dem for dat."

"It's an infamous shame that it should be lawful to separate man
and wife," Vincent said. "However, we will see what we can do.
You manage to pass the word to Tony to keep up his spirits, and
not let them drive him to do anything rash. Toll him I will see that
his wife does not get into bad hands. I suppose they will sell the
baby too?"

"Yes, Massa Vincent. Natural the baby will go wid de modder."

Vincent watched the list of advertisements of slaves to be sold,
and a day or two later saw a notice to the effect that Dinah Morris,
age twenty-two, with a male baby at her breast, would be sold on
the following Saturday. Ho mounted his horse and rode into
Richmond. He had not liked to speak to his mother on the subject,
for she had not told him of the letter she had written to Jackson;
and he thought that she might disapprove of any interference in the
matter, consequently ho went down to Mr. Renfrew, the family
solicitor.

"Mr. Renfrew," he said, "I want some money; can you lend it me?"

"You want money," the solicitor said in surprise. "What on earth
do you want money for? and if you want it, why don't you ask your
mother for it? How much do you want?"

"I don't know exactly. About eight hundred dollars, I should think;
though it may be a thousand. I want to buy a slave."

"You want to buy a slave!" repeated Mr. Renfrew. "What on earth
do you want to buy a slave for? You have more than you want
now at the Orangery."

"It's a slave that man Jackson is going to sell next Saturday, on
purpose to spite the poor creature's husband and drive him to
desperation," and Vincent then repeated the whole story of the
circumstances that had led up to the sale.

"It is all very abominable on the part of these Jacksons," Mr.
Renfrew said, "but your interference was most imprudent, my
young friend; and, as you see, it has done harm rather than good.
If you are so quixotic as to become the champion of every
ill-treated slave in the State, your work is pretty well cut out for
you."

"I know that, sir," Vincent replied, smiling, "and I can assure you I
did not intend to enter upon any such crusade; but, you see, I have
wrongly or rightly mixed myself up in this, and I want to repair the
mischief which, as you say, I have caused. The only way I can see
is to buy this negress and her baby."

"But I do not see that you will carry out your object if you do,
Vincent. She will be separated just as much from her husband if
you buy her as if any one else does. He is at one plantation and
she is at another, and were they ten miles apart or a hundred, they
are equally separated."

"I quite see that, Mr. Renfrew; but, at least, she will be kindly
treated, and his mind will be at rest on that score. Perhaps some
day or other the Jacksons may put him up for sale, and then I can
buy him, and they will be reunited. At any rate, the first step is to
buy her. Can you let me have the money? My mother makes me a
very good allowance."

"And I suppose you spend it," the lawyer interrupted.

"Well, yes, I generally spend it; but then, you see, when I come of
age I come in for the outlying estates."

"And if you die before, or get shot, or any other accident befalls
you," Mr. Renfrew said, "they go to your sisters. However, one
must risk something for a client, so I will lend you the money. I
had better put somebody up to bid for you, for after what has
happened the Jacksons would probably not let her go if they knew
that you wore going to be the purchaser."

"Thank you very much," Vincent said warmly; "it will be a great
weight off my mind," and with a light heart he rode back to the
Orangery.

Vincent said nothing during the next two days to any of his friends
as to the course the Jacksons wore taking in selling Tony's wife;
for he thought that if the news got about, some of his friends who
had heard the circumstances might go down to the auction and
make such a demonstration that Jackson would be obliged to
withdraw Dinah from the sale, in which case he would no doubt
dispose of her privately. On the Saturday he mounted his horse
and rode into Richmond, telling Dan to meet him there. At the
hour the sale was announced he went to the yard where it was to
take place.

This was a somewhat quiet and secluded place; for although the
sale of slaves was permitted by law in Virginia, at any rate these
auctions were conducted quietly and with as little publicity as
possible. For although the better classes still regarded slavery as a
necessary institution, they were conscious that these sales,
involving as they did the separation of families, were indefensible,
and the more thoughtful would gladly have seen them abolished,
and a law passed forbidding the sale of negroes save as part and
parcel of the estate upon which they worked, an exception only
being made in the case of gross misconduct. Many of the
slave-owners, indeed, forbade all flogging upon their estates, and
punished refractory slaves, in the first place, by the cutting off of
the privileges they enjoyed in the way of holidays, and if this did
not answer, threatened to sell them-a threat which was, in the vast
majority of cases, quite sufficient to ensure good behavior; for the
slaves were well aware of the difference between life in the
well-managed establishments in Virginia and that in some of the
other Southern States. Handing his horse to Dan, Vincent joined a
knot of four or five of his acquaintances who had strolled in from
mere curiosity.

There were some thirty or forty men in the yard, a few of whom
had come in for the purpose of buying; but the great majority had
only attended for the sake of passing an idle hour. Slaves had
fallen in value; for although all in the South professed their
confidence that the law would never attempt by force of arms to
prevent their secession, it was felt that slave property would in
future be more precarious, for the North would not improbably
repeal the Jaws for the arrest of fugitive slaves, and consequently
all runaways who succeeded in crossing the border would be lost
to their masters.

Upon the other side of the yard Vincent saw Andrew Jackson
talking to two or three men who were strangers to him, and who,
he guessed, were buyers from some of the more southern States
There were in all twelve lots to be disposed of. Of these two or
three were hands who wore no longer fit for field work, and who
were bought at very low prices by men who owned but a few acres
of land, and who could utilize them for odd jobs requiring but little
strength. Then there was a stir of attention. Dinah Moore took her
stand upon the platform, with her baby in her arms. The message
which Dan had conveyed from Vincent to her husband had given
her some hope, and though she looked scared and frightened as she
clasped her babe to her breast, she was not filled with such utter
despair as would otherwise have been the case.

The auctioneer stated the advantages of the lot in the same
business-like tone as if he had been selling a horse:

"Lot 6. Negro wench, Dinah; ago twenty-two; with male child.
Strong and well made, as you see, gentlemen; fit for field work, or
could be made a useful hand about a house; said to be handy and
good-tempered. Now, gentlemen, what shall we say for this
desirable lot?"

One of the men standing by Andrew Jackson bid a hundred dollars.
The bid was raised to a hundred and fifty by a rough-looking
fellow standing in front of the platform. For some time the bidding
was confined to these two, and it rose until it reached seven
hundred and fifty, at which point the man near the platform retired,
and there was a pause.

Vincent felt uncomfortable. He had already been round to Mr.
Renfrew, who had told him that he had deputed an agent to buy;
and until the man near the platform stopped ho had supposed that
he was the solicitor's agent.

"Now, gentlemen," the auctioneer said, "surely you are not going
to let this desirable piece of property go for seven fifty? She would
be cheap at double the price. I have sold worse articles for three
thousand."

"I will go another twenty-five dollars," a tall man in homespun and
a broad planter's straw hat said quietly.

The contest now recommenced, and by bids of twenty-five dollars
at a time the amount was raised to twelve hundred and fifty
dollars.

"That's enough for me," the man standing by Andrew Jackson said;
"he may have her at twelve fifty, and dear enough, too, as times
go."

Will any one else make an offer?" the auctioneer asked. There was
no response, and the hammer fell.

"What name?"

"Nathaniel Forster," the tall man said; and advancing to the table
he counted out a roll of notes and gave them to the auctioneer,
who handed to him a formal note certifying to his having duly and
legally purchased Dinah Moore and her infant, late the property of
Andrew Jackson, Esquire, of the Cedars, State of Virginia.

The purchaser had evidently made up his mind beforehand to
secure the lot, for he handed a parcel he had been holding to
Dinah, and said briefly, "Slip those things on, my lass."

The poor girl, who had before been simply attired in the scantiest
of petticoats, retired to a corner of the yard, and speedily came
forward again dressed in a neat cotton gown. There were several
joking remarks made by the bystanders, but Dinah's new master
took no notice of them, but with a motion of his hand to her to
follow him, walked out of the yard.

A minute later Vincent followed, and although he had no doubt
that the man was the agent Mr. Renfrew had employed, he did not
feel thoroughly satisfied until he saw them enter the lawyer's
office. He quickly followed. They had just entered the private
room of Mr. Renfrew.

"That's right, Wingfield," the lawyer said. "You see we have
settled the business satisfactorily, and I think you have got a fairly
cheap bargain. Just wait a moment and we will complete the
transaction."

Dinah gave a start as Vincent entered, but with the habitual
self-repression of a slave she stood quietly in the corner to which
she had withdrawn at the other end of the room.

The lawyer was busy drawing up a document, and touching the
bell ordered a clerk to go across to Mr. Rawlins, justice of the
peace, and ask him to step across the road.

In a minute Mr. Rawlins entered.

"I want you to witness a deed of sale of a slave," Mr. Renfrew said.
"Here are the particulars: 'Nathaniel Forster sells to Vincent
Wingfield his slave, Dinah Moore and her male infant, for the sum
of fourteen hundred dollars.' These are the parties. Forster sign this
receipt."

The man did so. The justice put his signature as wit-ness to the
transaction, dropped into his pocket the fee of five dollars that the
lawyer handed to him, and without a word strolled out again.

"There, Dinah," Mr. Renfrew said, "Mr. Wingfield is now your
master,"

The girl ran forward, fell on her knees before Vincent, seized his
hand and kissed it, sobbing out her thanks as she did so.

"There, that will do, Dinah," the lawyer said, seeing that Vincent
was confused by her greeting. "I think you are a lucky girl, and
have made a good exchange for the Orangery instead of the
Cedars. I don't suppose you will find Mr. Wingfield a very hard
master. What he is going to do with you I am sure I don't know."

Vincent now went to the door and called in Dan and told him to
take Dinah to the Orangery, then mounting his horse he rode off
home to prepare his mother for the reception of his new purchase.

CHAPTER III. AIDING A RUNAWAY.

"WELL, you are an extraordinary boy, Vincent," Mrs. Wingfield
said as her son told her the story, while his sisters burst into fits of
laughter at the idea of Vincent owning a female slave with a baby.
"Why did you not tell me that you wanted the money instead of
going to Mr. Renfrew? I shall tell him I am very angry with him
for letting you have it for such a purpose."

"I was not sure whether you would let me have it, mother; and if
you had refused, and I had got it afterward from Mr. Renfrew, I
should not have liked to bring her home here."

"That would have been fun," Annie said. "Fancy Vincent's
troubles with a female slave on his hands and nowhere to put her.
What would you have done, Vincent?"

"I suppose I could have got a home for her somewhere," Vincent
said quietly. "I don't think there would have been any difficulty
about that. Still I am glad I didn't have to do so, and one slave
more or less can make no difference here."

"Not at all," Mrs. Wingfleld said; "I dare say Chloe will find
something for her to do in the way of washing, and such other light
work that she is fit for about the house. It is not that, but it is years
since a slave was brought into the Orangery; never since I can
remember. We raise more than we want ourselves; and when I see
all those children about, I wonder sometimes what on earth we are
to find for them all to do. Still, it was a scandalous thing of that
man Jackson selling the girl to punish her husband; and as you say
it was your foolish interference in the matter that brought it about,
so I do not know that I can blame you for doing what you can to
set the matter straight. Still, except that the knowledge that she is
here and will be well treated will be a comfort to the man, I do not
see that he will be much the better off, unless indeed the Jacksons
should try to sell him also, in which case I suppose you would
want to buy him."

"I am afraid they won't' do that, mother. Still, some-how or other,
in time they may come together again.

"I don't see how they can, Vincent. However we need not think of
that now. At any rate I hope there will he no further opportunity
for your mixing yourself up in this business. You have made two
bitter enemies now, and although I do not see that such people as
these can do you any harm, it is always well not to make enemies,
especially in times like these when no one can foresee exactly
what may occur."

And so Dinah Moore became an inmate of the Orangery; and
though the girls had laughed at their brother, they were very kind
to her when she arrived with Dan, and made much of her and of
her baby. The same night Dan went over to the Cedars, and
managed to have an inter view with Tony, and to tell him that his
wife had been bought by Vincent. The joy of the negro was
extreme. The previous message had raised his hopes that Vincent
would succeed in getting her bought by some one who would be
kind to her, hut he knew well that she might nevertheless fall to
the lot of some higher bidder and be taken hundreds of miles away,
and that he might never again get news of her whereabouts. He
had then suffered terrible anxiety all day, and the relief of learning
that Vincent himself had bought her, and that she was now
installed as a house servant at the Orangery, but a few miles away,
was quite overpowering, and for some minutes he could only gasp
out his joy and thankfulness. He could hope now that when better
times came he might be able to steal away some night and meet
her, and that some day er other, though how he could not see, they
might be reunited. The Jacksons remained in ignorance that their
former slave was located so near to them.

It was for this reason that Mr. Renfrew had instructed his agent to
buy her in his own name instead of that of Vincent; and the
Jacksons, having no idea of the transfer that had subsequently
taken place, took no further interest in the matter, believing that
they had achieved their object of torturing Tony, and avenging
upon him the humiliation that Andrew had suffered at Vincent's
hands. Had they questioned their slaves, and had these answered
them truly, they would have discovered the facts. For although
Tony himself said no word to any one of what he had learned from
Dan, the fact that Dinah was at the Orangery was speedily known
among the slaves; for the doings at one plantation were soon
conveyed to the negroes on the others by the occasional visits
which they paid at night to each other's quarters, or to some
common rendezvous far removed from interruption.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27