The sad intelligence of
Jerome's death was brought to Clotelle while
she was giving her personal attention to the
sick and wounded that filled the hospitals
of New Orleans. For a time she withdrew from
the gaze of mankind, and gave herself up to
grief. Few unions had been productive of
more harmonious feelings than hers. And this
blow, so unexpected and at a time when she
was experiencing such a degree of excitement
caused by the rebellion, made her, indeed,
feel the affliction severely.
But the newspaper accounts of the intense
suffering of the Union prisoners in the
rebel States aroused her, and caused her to
leave her retirement. In the month of
October, 1863, Clotelle resolved to visit
Andersonville, Ga., for the purpose of
alleviating the hardships of our sick and
imprisoned soldiers, and at once put her
resolution into effect by going immediately
to that place. After crossing the lines, she
passed as a rebel lady, to enable her the
more successfully to carry out her object.
On her arrival at Andersonville, Clotelle
took up her abode with a private family, of
Union proclivities, and commenced her work
of mercy. She first visited the hospitals,
the buildings of which were merest excuses
for hospitals.
It was the beginning of November; and, even
in that southern latitude, the cold made
these miserable abodes uncomfortable nights
and mornings. The dirty, unventilated rooms,
with nothing but straw upon the cold, damp
floor, for beds, upon which lay the ragged,
emaciated Union prisoners, worn down to skin
and bone with disease and starvation, with
their sunken eyes and wild looks, made them
appear hideous in the extreme. The repulsive
scenes, that showed the suffering, neglect,
and cruelty which these poor creatures had
experienced, made her heart sink within her.
Having paid considerable attention to
hospital life in Europe, and so recently
from amongst the sick at New Orleans,
Clotelle's experience, suggestions, and
liberal expenditure of money, would have
added greatly to the comfort of these
helpless men, if the rebel authorities had
been so disposed. But their hatred to Union
prisoners was so apparent, that the interest
which this angel of humanity took in the
condition of the rebel sick could not shield
her from the indignation of the secession
officials for her good feeling for the Union
men. However, with a determination to do all
in her power for the needy, she labored in
season and out.
The brutal treatment and daily murders
committed upon our soldiers in the
Andersonville prisons caused Clotelle to
secretly aid prisoners in their escape. In
the latter work, she brought to her
assistance the services of a Negro man named
Pete. This individual was employed about the
prison, and, having the entire confidence of
the commandant, was in a position to do much
good without being suspected. Pete was an
original character, of a jovial nature, and,
when intending some serious adventure, would
appear very solemn, and usually singing a
doleful ditty, often the following, which
was a favorite with him:
"Come listen, all you darkies, come listen
to my song:
It am about old Massa, who use me bery
wrong.
In de cole, frosty mornin', it an't so bery
nice,
Wid de water to de middle, to hoe among de
rice;
When I neber hab forgotten
How I used to hoe de cotton,
How I used to hoe de cotton,
On de old Virginny shore;
But I'll neber hoe de cotton,
Oh! neber hoe de cotton
Any more.
"If I feel de drefful hunger, he tink it am
a vice,
And he gib me for my dinner a little broken
rice,
A little broken rice and a bery little fat,
And he grumble like de debbil if I eat too
much of dat;
When I neber hab forgotten, etc.
"He tore me from my Dinah; I thought my
heart would burst:
He made me lub anoder when my lub was wid de
first;
He sole my picanninnies becase he got dar
price,
And shut me in de marsh field to hoe among
de rice;
When I neber hab forgotten, etc.
"And all de day I hoe dar, in all de heat
and rain;
And, as I hoe away dar, my heart go back
again,
Back to de little cabin dat stood among de
corn,
And to de ole plantation where she and I war
born!
Oh! I wish I had forgotten, etc.
"Den Dinah am beside me, de chil'ren on my
knee,
And dough I am a slave dar, it 'pears to me
I'm free,
Till I wake up from my dreaming, and wife
and chil'ren gone,
I hoe away and weep dar, and weep dar all
alone!
Oh! I wish I had forgotten, etc.
"But soon a day am comin', a day I long to
see,
When dis darky in de cole ground, foreber
will be free,
When wife and chil'ren wid me, I'll sing in
Paradise,
How He, de blessed Jesus, hab bought me wid
a price;
How de Lord hab not forgotten
How well I hoed de cotton,
How well I hoed de cotton
On de old Virginny shore;
Dar I'll neber hoe de cotton,
Oh! I'll neber hoe de cotton
Any more."
When away from the whites, and among his own
class, Pete could often
be heard in the following strains:
"A storm am brewin' in de Souf,
A storm am brewin' now.
Oh! hearken den, and shut your mouf,
And I will tell you how:
And I will tell you how, ole boy,
De storm of fire will pour,
And make de darkies dance for joy,
As dey neber danced afore;
So shut your mouf as close as deafh,
And all you niggas hole your breafh,
And I will tell you how.
"De darkies at de Norf am ris,
And dey am comin' down
Am comin' down, I know dey is,
To do de white folks brown!
Dey'll turn ole Massa out to grass,
And set de niggas free,
And when dat day am come to pass
We'll all be dar to see!
So shut your mouf as close as deafh,
And all you niggas hole your breafh,
And do de white folks brown!
"Den all de week will be as gay
As am de Chris'mas time;
We'll dance all night and all de day,
And make de banjo chime
And make de banjo chime, I tink,
And pass de time away,
Wid 'nuf to eat and nuf to drink,
And not a bit to pay!
So shut your mouf as close as deafh,
And all you niggas hole your breafh,
And make de banjo chime."
How to escape from prison was ever the
thoughts by day and dreams by night of the
incarcerated. Plans were concocted, partly
put into execution, and then proved
failures. Some of these caused increased
suffering to the prisoners after their
discovery; for, where the real parties could
not be found, the whole were ill treated as
a punishment to the guilty. Tunnelling was
generally the mode for escape; and
tunnelling became the order of the day, or,
rather, the work for the night. In the
latter part of November, 1863, the unusual
gaiety of the prisoners showed that some
plan of exit from the prison was soon to be
exhibited.
Clotelle or The Colored Heroine, A tale of the Southern States