FootNote
The new kid on the block, FootNote is known for digitizing historical
documents... many of which are genealogical gems. With naturalizations,
city directories, war records, newspapers, town records, etc... this new
kid is quickly being recognized as an alternative to Ancestry.
While we know our northern friends may not feel it, in the South, Spring is
here. So we thought we'd share a few of our gardening sites appropriate
for this time of the year. Along with gardening, there's grilling, and getting
ready to diet so that you can fit back into that bathing suit this summer!
On the fourth morning, the
Patriot landed at Grand Gulf, a beautiful
town on the left bank of the Mississippi.
Among the numerous passengers who came on
board at Rodney was another slave trader,
with nine human chattels which he was
conveying to the Southern market. The
passengers, both ladies and gentlemen, were
startled at seeing among the new lot of
slaves a woman so white as not to be
distinguishable from the other white women
on board. She had in her arms a child so
white that no one would suppose a drop of
African blood flowed through its blue veins.
No one could behold that mother with her
helpless babe, without feeling that God
would punish the oppressor. There she sat,
with an expressive and intellectual
forehead, and a countenance full of dignity
and heroism, her dark golden locks rolled
back from her almost snow white forehead and
floating over her swelling bosom. The tears
that stood in her mild blue eyes showed that
she was brooding over sorrows and wrongs
that filled her bleeding heart.
The hearts of the passers by grew softer,
while gazing upon that young mother as she
pressed sweet kisses on the sad, smiling
lips of the infant that lay in her lap. The
small, dimpled hands of the innocent
creature were slyly hid in the warm bosom on
which the little one nestled. The blood of
some proud Southerner, no doubt, flowed
through the veins of that child.
When the boat arrived at Natches, a rather
good looking, genteel appearing man came on
board to purchase a servant. This individual
introduced himself to Jennings as the Rev.
James Wilson. The slave trader conducted the
preacher to the deck cabin, where he kept
his slaves, and the man of God, after having
some questions answered, selected Agnes as
the one best suited to his service.
It seemed as if poor Marion's heart would
break when she found that she was to be
separated from her mother. The preacher,
however, appeared to be but little moved by
their sorrow, and took his newly purchased
victim on shore. Agnes begged him to buy her
daughter, but he refused, on the ground that
he had no use for her.
During the remainder of the passage, Marion
wept bitterly.
After a run of a few hours, the boat stopped
at Baton Rouge, where an additional number
of passengers were taken on board, among
whom were a number of persons who had been
attending the races at that place. Gambling
and drinking were now the order of the day.
The next morning, at ten o'clock, the boat
arrived at new Orleans, where the passengers
went to their hotels and homes, and the
Negroes to the slave pens.
Lizzie, the white slave mother, of whom we
have already spoken, created as much of a
sensation by the fairness of her complexion
and the alabaster whiteness of her child,
when being conveyed on shore at New Orleans,
as she had done when brought on board at
Grand Gulf. Every one that saw her felt that
slavery in the Southern States was not
confined to the Negro. Many had been taught
to think that slavery was a benefit rather
than an injury, and those who were not
opposed to the institution before, now felt
that if whites were to become its victims,
it was time at least that some security
should be thrown around the Anglo Saxon to
save him from this servile and degraded
position.
Clotelle or The Colored Heroine, A tale
of the Southern States
