LIFE OF JOHN THOMPSON.
THE
LIFE OF JOHN THOMPSON,
A FUGITIVE SLAVE;
CONTAINING HIS HISTORY OF 25 YEARS IN BONDAGE, AND
HIS PROVIDENTIAL ESCAPE.
WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.
WORCESTER:
PUBLISHED BY JOHN THOMPSON.
MDCCCLVI.
Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1856,
BY JOHN THOMPSON,
in the Clerk’s office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
WORCESTER:
PRINTED BY C. HAMILTON,
PALLADIUM OFFICE.
[Pg v]
PREFACE.
It would be an unprecedented act to send into theworld a work of the magnitude of this volume, withouta preface; and I am glad to avail myself of the opportunity,which custom not only allows but prescribes, tosay something of the work before you. Its history is asfollows: It was suggested to me about two years since,after relating to many the main facts relative to mybondage and escape to the land of freedom, that it wouldbe a desirable thing to put these facts into permanentform. I first sought to discover what had been said byother partners in bondage once, but in freedom now, andfrom what States they came. I found many of mybrethren from other and remote States, had written onthe subject, but scarcely any from Maryland. I amaware that now, when public opinion makes it no martyrdomto denounce slavery, there are multitudes of men[Pg vi]that grow bold, and wield a powerful weapon against thisgreat evil; and even school boys daringly denounce asystem, the enormity of which they cannot appreciate,surely I thought it may be permitted to one who hasworn the galling yoke of bondage, to say something ofits pains, and something of that freedom which, if heshould not succeed in accurately defining, he can trulysay he will ever admire and love.
JOHN THOMPSON.
Worcester, Mass., May, 1856.
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Life of John Thompson, a Fugitive Slave.
CHAP. I.
I was born in Maryland, in 1812, and was slave to aMrs. Wagar. She had four sons and two daughters.The sons were all farmers, owning large tracts of land;which were well stocked with slaves, and other animalproperty!
When her youngest son, James H., was about forty orforty-five years of age, he owned the plantation uponwhich he and his mother lived, and on which I was born.On this plantation were about two hundred slaves, youngand old; of which fifty belonged to him, and the remainderto his mother; but all were in his charge.
Mr. J. H. W. had two children, John and Elizabeth.His wife died before I could remembe