Slaves
Little is known about slavery on the farm. There were two main slaves that were spoken of consistently. The house slave was Easter, who was a valued family-like servant. She either slept in the room near the children upstairs, or in a cabin with her husband, "Uncle Alfred". A slave foreman was stolen by Indians, possibly Cherokee, and taken east. When Smith was a Senator, the slave contacted him and asked for a bounty so that he could be returned to his old master. The bounty of $900 was paid to the captors, and the man returned to the servitude of Daniel Smith, of whom the man said was “anxious to return to his old master and home.” By 1860, there were 98 slaves. In 1833, there are two letters of bill of sale that name the following slaves being sold from George Smith to Harry Smith:
Isaac, Martin, Charles, Cheshire, Larkin, Ina, Toby, Wilson, David, Henry, Sarah, Rachel, Judy or Juda, Baty, Patricia and her two children, Henrietta, Silva or Silvia, Mitchel, Daniel and Jeffrey.
Read more about this topic: Rock Castle (Hendersonville, Tennessee)
Famous quotes containing the word slaves:
“Your kind doesn’t just kill men. You murder their spirits, you strangle their last breath of hope and freedom, so that you, the chosen few, can rule your slaves in ease and luxury. You’re a sadist just like the others, Heiser, with no resource but violence and no feeling but fear, the kind you’re feeling now. You’re drowning, Heiser, drowning in the ocean of blood around this barren little island you call the New Order.”
—Curtis Siodmak (1902–1988)
“Wars and revolutions and battles are due simply and solely to the body and its desires. All wars are undertaken for the acquisition of wealth; and the reason why we have to acquire wealth is the body, because we are slaves in its service.”
—Socrates (469–399 B.C.)
“I rejoice that horses and steers have to be broken before they can be made the slaves of men, and that men themselves have some wild oats still left to sow before they become submissive members of society. Undoubtedly, all men are not equally fit subjects for civilization; and because the majority, like dogs and sheep, are tame by inherited disposition, this is no reason why the others should have their natures broken that they may be reduced to the same level.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)