The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
AS
NARRATED BY HIMSELF.
BOSTON:
ARTHUR D. PHELPS.
1849.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1849, by
Arthur D. Phelps,
in the office of the Clerk of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts
CAMBRIDGE:
PRINTED BY BOLLES AND HOUGHTON.
The following memoir was written from thedictation of Josiah Henson. A portion of thestory was told, which, when written, was read to him, that any errorsof statement might be corrected. The substance of it, therefore, thefacts, the reflections, and very often the words, are his; and littlemore than the structure of the sentences belongs to another.
The narrative, in this form, necessarily loses the attractionderived from the earnest manner, the natural eloquence of a man whotells a story in which he is deeply interested; but it is hoped thatenough remains to repay perusal, and that the character of the man,and the striking nature of the events of his life will be[iv] thoughtto justify the endeavor to make them more extensively known. The storyhas this advantage, that it is not fiction, but fact; and it will befound fruitful in instruction by those who attentively consider itslessons.
I was born, June 15, 1789, in CharlesCounty, Maryland, on a farm belonging to Mr. Francis N., about a milefrom Port Tobacco. My mother was the property of Dr. Josiah McP., butwas hired by Mr. N., to whom my father belonged. The only incident Ican remember, which occurred while my mother continued on N.’sfarm, was the appearance of my father one day, with his head bloodyand his back lacerated. He was in a state of great excitement, andthough it was all a mystery to me at the age of three or four years,it was explained at a later period, and I understood that he had beensuffering the cruel penalty of the Maryland law for beating a whiteman. His right ear had been cut off close to his head, and he hadreceived a hundred lashes on his back. He had beaten the overseerfor a brutal assault on my mother, and this was his punishment.Furious at such treatment, my father became a different man, andwas so morose, disobedient,[2] and intractable, that Mr. N. determined tosell him. He accordingly parted with him, not long after, to his son,who lived in Alabama; and neither my mother nor I, ever heard of himagain. He was naturally, as I understood afterwards from my mother andother persons, a man of amiable temper, and of considerable energy ofcharacter; but it is not strange that he should be essentially changedby such cruelty and injustice under the sanction of law.
After the sale of my father by N., and his leaving Maryland forAlabama, Dr. McP. would no longer hire out my mother to N. Shereturned, therefore, to the estate of the doctor, who was very muchkinder to his slaves than the generality of planters, n