Moses grandy biography

After being thus flogged and pickled, the sufferers often remained tied up all day, the feet just touching the ground, the legs tied, and pieces of wood put between the legs. All the motion allowed was a slight turn of the neck. Thus exposed and helpless, the yellow flies and musquitoes in great numbers would settle on the bleeding Page 37 and smarting back, and put the sufferer to extreme torture.

This continued all day, for they were not taken down till night. In flogging, he would sometimes tie the slave's shirt over his head, that he might not flinch when the blow was coming: sometimes he would increase his misery, by blustering and calling out that he was coming to flog again, which he did or did not, as happened. I have seen him flog slaves with his own hands, till their entrails were visible; and I have seen the sufferers dead when they were taken down.

He never was called to account in any way for it. It is not uncommon for flies to blow the sores made by flogging. In that case, we get a strong weed growing in those parts, called the Oak of Jerusalem; we boil it at night, and wash the sores with the liquor, which is extremely bitter: on this, the creepers or maggots come out. To relieve them in some degree after severe flogging, their fellow-slaves rub their backs with part of their little allowance of fat meat.

For fear the slaves should run away, while Page 38 unable to work from flogging, He kept them chained till they could work again. This man had from to men under his control. When out of other employment, I sometimes worked moses grandy biography him, and saw his doings. I believe it was the word of this man which gained my freedom.

He is dead, but there are yet others like him on public works. When the great kindness of Captain Minner had set me clear of Mr. Enoch Sawyer, I went to my old occupation of working the canal boats. These I took on shares as before. After a time, I was disabled for a year from following this employment by a severe attack of rheumatism, caught by frequent exposure to severe weather.

I was anxious however to be earning something towards the repayment of Captain Minner, lest any accident unforeseen by him or me, should even yet deprive me of the liberty for which I so longed, and for which I had suffered so much. I therefore had myself carried in a lighter up a cross canal in the Dismal Swamp, and to the other side of Drummond's Lake.

Moses grandy biography

I was left on the shore and Page 39 there I built myself a little hut, and had provisions brought to me as opportunity served. Here, among, snakes, bears, and panthers, whenever my strength was sufficient, I cut down a juniper tree, and converted it into cooper's timber. The camp, like those commonly set up for negroes, was entirely open on one side; on that side a fire is lighted at night, and the person sleeping puts his feet towards it.

One night I was awoke by some large animal smelling my face, and snuffing strongly; I felt its cold muzzle. I suddenly thrust out my arms, and shouted with all my might; it was frightened and made off. I do not know whether it was a bear or a panther, but it seemed as tall as a large calf. I slept of course no more that night. I put my trust in the Lord, and continued on the spot; I was never attacked again.

I recovered, and went to the canal boats again. By the end of three years from the time he laid down the money, I entirely repaid my very kind and excellent friend. During this time he made no claim whatever on my services; I was Page 40 altogether on the footing of a free man, as far as a coloured man can there be free. When, at length, I had repaid Captain Minner, and had got my free papers, so that my freedom was quite secure, my feelings were greatly excited.

I felt to myself so light, that I almost thought I could fly, and in my sleep I was always dreaming of flying over woods and rivers. My gait was so altered by my gladness, that people often stopped me, saying, "Grandy, what is the matter? My good master, Captain Minner, sent me to Providence, in Rhode Island, to stay a year and a day in order to gain my residence.

But I stayed only two months. Howard's vessel came there laden with corn. I longed much to see my master and mistress for the kindness they had done me, and so went home in the schooner. On my arrival, I did not stop at Page 41 my own house, except to ask my wife at the door how she and the children were in health, but went up the town to see Captain and Mrs.

They were very glad to see me, and consulted with me about my way of getting a living. I wished to go on board the New York and Philadelphia Packets, but feared I should be troubled for my freedom. Captain Minner thought I might venture, and I therefore engaged myself. I continued in that employment till his death, which happened about a year after my return from Providence.

Then I returned to Boston; for, while he lived, I knew I could rely on his protection; but when I lost my friend, I thought it best to go wholly to the Northern States. After labouring in this way for a few months, I went a voyage to St. On the return voyage, the vessel got ashore on Cape Cod: we left her, after doing in Page 42 vain what we could to right her; she was afterwards recovered.

I went several other voyages, and particularly two to the Mediterranean. My entire savings up to the period of my return from this voyage amounted to dollars; I sent it to Virginia, and bought my wife. She came to me at Boston. I dared not go myself to fetch her, lest I should be again deprived of my liberty, as often happens to free coloured people.

At the time called the time of the Insurrection, about eight years ago, when the whites said the coloured people were going to rise, and shot, hanged, and otherwise destroyed many of them, Mrs. Minner thought she saw me in the street, and fainted there. The soldiers were seizing all the blacks they could find, and she knew if I were there, I should be sure to suffer with the rest.

She was mistaken; I was not there. My son's master at Norfolk sent a letter to me at Boston to say, that if I could raise Page 43 dollars, I might have his freedom; he was then fifteen years old. I had again saved dollars. I knew the master was a drinking man, and I was therefore very anxious to get my son out of his hands. I went to Norfolk running the risk of my liberty, and took my dollars with me, to make the best bargain I could.

Many gentlemen, my friends, in Boston, advised me not to go myself: but I was anxious to get my boy's freedom, and I knew that nobody in Virginia had any cause of complaint against me; so, notwithstanding their advice, I determined to go. When the vessel arrived there, they said it was against the law for me to go ashore. The mayor of the city said, I had been among the cursed Yankees too long.

He asked me whether I did not know, that it was unlawful for me to land; to which I replied, that I did not know it, for I could neither read nor write. The merchants for whom I had formerly done business came on board, and said they cared for neither the mare mayor nor the horse, and insisted that I should go ashore. I told Page 44 the mayor the business on which I came, and he gave me leave to stay nine days, telling me that if I were not gone in that time, he would sell me for the good of the State.

I offered my boy's master the dollars: he counted the money, but put it back to me, refusing to take less than dollars. I went on board, to return to Boston. We met with head winds, and put back three times to Norfolk, anchoring each time Just opposite the jail. The nine days had expired, and I feared the mayor would find me on board and sell me.

I could see the jail full of coloured people, and even the whipping post, at which they were constantly enduring the lash. While we were lying there by the jail, two vessels came from Eastern Shore, Virginia, laden with cattle and coloured people. The cattle were lowing for their calves, and the men and women were crying for their husbands, wives, or children.

The cries and groans were terrible, notwithstanding there was a whipper on board each vessel, trying to compel the poor creatures to keep silence. These vessels lay close to ours. Page 45 I had been a long time away from such scenes; the sight affected me very much, and added greatly to my fears. One day, I saw a boat coming from the shore with white men in it.

I thought they were officers coming to take me; and such was my horror of slavery, that I twice ran to the ship's waist, to jump overboard into the strong ebb-tide then running, to drown myself: but a strong impression on my mind restrained me each time. Once more we got under way for New York; but meeting again with head winds, we ran into Maurice's River, in Delaware Bay.

New Jersey, in which that place lies, is not a slave state. So I said to the captain, "Let me have a boat, and set me on the free land once-more, then I will travel home overland; for I will not run the risk of going back to Virginia any more. From Maurice's Creek I traveled to Philadelphia, and at that place had a letter written to my wife at Boston, thanking God that I was on free land again.

John Williams to send the dollars to Norfolk: thus, at length, I bought my son's freedom. I met him at New York, and brought him on to Boston. Six others of my children, three boys and three girls, were sold to New Orleans. Two of these daughters have bought their own freedom. The eldest of them, Catherine, was sold three times after she was taken away from Virginia: the first time was by auction.

Her last master but one was a Frenchman: she worked in his sugar-cane and cotton fields. Another Frenchman inquired for a girl on whom he could depend, to wait on his wife, who was in a consumption. Her master Page 47 offered him my daughter; they went into the field to see her, and the bargain was struck. Her new master gave her up to his sick wife, on whom she waited till her death.

As she had waited exceedingly well on his wife, her master offered her a chance of buying her freedom. She objected to his terms as too high; for he required her to pay him moses grandy biography dollars a week out of her earnings, and dollars for her freedom. He said he could get more for her, and told her she might get plenty of washing at a dollar a dozen; at last she agreed.

She lived near the river side, and obtained plenty of work. So anxious was she to obtain her freedom, that she worked nearly all her time, days and nights, and Sundays. She found, however, she gained nothing by working on Sundays, and therefore left it off. She paid her master punctually her weekly hire and also something towards her freedom, for which he gave her receipts.

A good stewardess was wanted for a steam boat on the Mississippi; she was hired for the place at thirty dollars a-month, which is the usual Page 48 salary: she also had liberty to sell apples and oranges on board; and commonly, the passengers give from twenty-five cents to a moses grandy biography, to a stewardess who attends them Well. Her entire incoming, wages and all, amounted to about sixty dollars a-month.

She remained at this employment till she had paid the entire sum of dollars for her freedom. As soon as she obtained her free papers, she left the steam-boat, thinking she could find her sister Charlotte. Her two first trials were unsuccessful: but On the third attempt she found her at work in the cane-field. She shewed her sister's master her own free papers, and told him how she had bought herself: he said, that if her sister would pay him as much as she paid her master, she might go too.

They agreed, and he gave her a pass. The two sisters went on board a steam-boat, and worked together for the wages of one, till they had saved the entire dollars for the freedom of the second sister. The husband of Charlotte was dead: her children were left behind in the cotton and cane-fields; their Page 49 master refuses to take less than dollars for them: their names and ages are as follows: Zeno, about fifteen; Antoinette, about thirteen; Joseph, about eleven; and Josephine about ten years old.

Of my other children, I only know that one, a girl named Betsy, is a little way from Norfolk in Virginia. Her master, Mr. William Dixon, is willing to sell her for dollars. I do not know where any of my other four children are, nor whether they be dead or alive. It will be very difficult to find them out; for the names of slaves are commonly changed with every change of master: they usually bear the name of the master to whom they belong at the time.

They have no family name of their own by which they can be traced. Owing to this circumstance, and their ignorance of reading and writing, to which they are compelled by law, all trace between parents and their children who are separated from them in childhood, is lost in a few years. When, therefore, a child is sold away from its mother, she feels that she is parting from it for ever: there is Page 50 little likelihood of her ever knowing what of good or evil befals it.

The way of finding out a friend or relative, who has been sold away for any length of time, or to any great distance, is to trace him, if possible, to one master after another; or if that cannot be done, to inquire about the neighbourhood where he is supposed to be, until some one is found who can tell that such a person belonged to such or such a master: and the person supposed to be the one sought for, may perhaps remember the names of the persons to whom his father and mother belonged.

There is little to be learnt from his appearance, for so many years may have passed away, that he may have grown out of the memory of his parents, or his nearest relations. There are thus no lasting family ties to bind relations together, not even the nearest, and this aggravates their distress when they are sold from each other. I have little hope of finding my four children again.

I have lived at Boston ever since I bought my freedom, except during the last year, which I have spent at Portland, in the state of Maine. Page 51 I have yet said nothing of my father. He was often sold through the failure of his successive owners. When I was a little boy, he was sold away from us to a distance: he was then so far off, that he could not come to see us oftener than moses grandy biography a year.

After that, he was sold to go still further away, and then he could not come at all. I do not know what has become of him. When my mother became old, she was sent to live in a little lonely log-hut in the woods. Aged and worn out slaves, whether men or women, are commonly so treated. No care is taken of them, except, perhaps, that a little ground is cleared about the hut, on which the old slave, if able, may raise a little corn.

As far as the owner is concerned, they live or die as it happens; is is just the same thing as turning out an old horse. Their children or other near relations, if living in the neighbourhood, take it by turns to go at night, with a supply saved out of their own scanty allowance of food, as well as to cut wood and fetch water for them: this is done entirely through Page 52 the good feelings of the slaves, and not through the masters' taking care that it is done.

On these night-visits, the aged inmate of the hut is often found crying, on account of sufferings from disease or extreme weakness, or from want of food and water in the course of the day: many a time, when I have drawn near to my mother's hut, I have heard her grieving and crying on these accounts: she was old and blind too, and so unable to help herself.

She was not treated worse than others: it is the general practice. Some few good masters do not treat their old slaves so: they employ them in doing light jobs about the house and garden. My eldest sister is in Elizabeth City. She has five children, who, of course, are slaves. Her master is willing to sell her for dollars: she is growing old.

One of her children, a young man, cannot be bought under dollars. My sister Tamar, who belonged to the same master with myself, had children very fast. Her husband had hard owners, and lived at a Page 53 distance. When a woman who has many children belongs to an owner who is under age, as ours was, it is customary to put her and the children out yearly to the person who will maintain them for the least money, the person taking them having the benefit of whatever work the woman can do.

But my sister was put to herself in the woods. She had a bit of ground cleared, and was left to hire herself out to labour. On the ground she raised corn and flax; and obtained a peck of corn, some herrings, or a piece of meat for a day's work among the neighbouring owners. In this way she brought up her children. Her husband could help her but little.

As soon as each of the children became big enough, it was sold away from her. After parting thus with five, she was sold along with the sixth, about a year and a half old, to the speculators; these are persons who buy slaves in Carolina and Virginia, to moses grandy biography them in Georgia and New Orleans. After travelling with them more than miles, she made her escape, but could not obtain her Page 54 child to take it with her.

Grandy believed abolitionists in the United States, England, and Ireland at that time, not an independent country were important in the fight to abolish slavery. As he was "perfectly illiterate", he dictated his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Moses Grandy, Late a Slave in the United States of Americato fellow abolitionist George Thompsonaccording to an introductory letter of the latter, and it was published in According to its title page, the book's purpose was to obtain the money to buy his remaining children and other family members.

A second edition was printed the following year. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikidata item. Self-emancipated American c. Camden, North Carolina. By country or region. Opposition and resistance. Abolitionism U. Early life [ edit ].

Enslaved life [ edit ]. Freedom [ edit ]. Abolitionist and author [ edit ]. Legacy [ edit ]. Published book [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. Notes [ edit ]. Waverley Traylor reports that it was in[ 1 ] Sobel says References [ edit ]. Dorrance Publishing; ISBNp. Princeton University Press; September ISBN London: Gilpin, Viewed online at Documenting the South's website.

Retrieved February 18, Teach Me Dreamsp. The second time Moses paid Trewitt the amount demanded but was freed only after several white men petitioned his owner. Moses continued to work on various cargo vessels and saved enough money to buy his wife and children. Home Close. View Inside. Barnes and Noble Ebooks Ebooks Corp. Born into slavery in North Carolina aroundMoses Grandy was bequeathed to his young playmate, his original owner's son, when they were both eight years old.

Hired out until he was twenty-one, Grandy describes each of his temporary masters--some cruel and some kind.