USA > North Carolina > Edgecombe County > History of Edgecombe County, North Carolina > Part 15
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In 1790 there was a notable increase of slaves and a normal number of whites. There were in the county 1,260 heads of families. Of the entire families only 481 owned slaves, and only twenty-seven families owned twenty or more slaves. Four men owned a considerable number, Edward Hall 86, Absolom Benton 40, Lewis Ervin 36, and Josiah Fort 86. Seventy-five families owned less than 20 and over 10, and a hundred families owned less than 10 and over 2. Ninety-nine owned 2, while seventy-nine families owned only one slave. The entire white population is here reported for the first time. There were 3,152 slaves and 6,933 whites, an increase of 2,092 slaves. Since we have no ac- count of the entire white population prior to this census, no defi- nite comparison can be given, but it will be a safe estimate to say it was a ration of three to one. It was during this great in- crease also that Nash County was formed from Edgecombe, tak- ing with it a liberal portion of her population.
In 1800 there was a decrease of 417 whites compared with the census of 1790, and an increase of 753 slaves. It is to be noted that the year 1800 marks the general trend that made Edge- combe a slave county and finally marked her as being one of the great black counties of the South. Never again does the census bring the total population of whites up to the number of blacks. There never were many free negroes in the county. For the year 1800, when the first returns giving the number of free negroes were made, there were only 106, a small number as compared with the slaves. In 1860 there were only 389 free negroes.
In 1830 the white and black pouplations were almost equal. In 1840 a sudden leap, as if some mighty forces had shot servitude to the forefront, ran the number of slaves to 15,708, or over twice as many slaves as there were white. There is only one solution for this great rise-cotton, which was the largest crop of the eastern counties, had a sudden boom when the new invention of the cotton gin came to be used. It is nothing but right to say that in the early days of the county the most earnest men looked upon slavery as an evil that would in time disappear; but with the
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invention of the gin, Edgecombe, as nature so placed her, became a great center of the cotton industry. It was then discovered by her great leaders that slavery was a "natural institution," the only relationship that could exist between the whites and the blacks, and together with the entire South, Edgecombe began to force political parties to assume a positive and uncompromising defense of the slavery.
In 1850 the tide again changes, the number of slaves declines, because the men of Edgecombe began to go West in search of new lands, carrying their slaves with them. It is noticeable that the most sales of negroes in Tarboro were made between 1845 and 1850, all of which indicates a tendency to purchase negroes for western farming.
In 1860, the last census before the liberation of the slaves, shows that there were 10,108 negroes in bondage and 389 free negroes, and a population of 6,789 whites. Slaves had increased nearly 2,000 in number and the whites had decreased nearly 1,500 in numbers since 1850.
These are the official returns, and therefore constitute the only means of knowing with any degree of certainty how many negroes there were in the county. Unsatisfactory as they may be, they nevertheless indicate a tendency which is not wholly uninstructive -namely, a system which brought Edgecombe ultimately into a slave and, then immediately after the Civil War, a negro regime.
The law concerning slavery is varied and extensive. New con- ditions demanded new changes in the law to protect slavery in its operation. Law never succeeds unless it corresponds to the par- ticular needs of the age in which it exists; consequently one need not be surprised at the alarming number or the absurdity of the laws in the past. They had a particular purpose and function then that similar laws today would not have. It is necessary to know in the beginning, however, that most laws about slaves were passed to protect the master and not the slave.
In addition to the laws of the Province, there were local regu- lations made by the County Court of Edgecombe. The earliest of these was in 1741. It declared that "no person whatsoever, being a Christian or of Christian parentage-imported or brought into the precinct-should be deemed a servant for any term of years" unless by indenture or agreement. The court records at
11
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Tarboro show one example by which this law was actually taken advantage of by the dependent classes. Soon after this law was passed, Samuel Williams, who must have been of low English descent, bound himself to George Patterson for ninety-nine years as a servant without permission to leave his master, and to obey all the commands given to him, for food and clothing.
According to the same law, if the servants binding themselves thus should become disobedient or unruly, they might be carried before a Justice of the Peace and sentenced to not more than twenty lashes; if they ran away and were recaptured, they were to serve double the time lost. Moreover, the law also provided that if any person should "presume to whip a Christian naked," without an order from a magistrate, such person should forfeit forty shillings proclamation money to the party injured. Serv- ants by indenture had the privilege to carry complaints to magis- trates, who might bind masters and mistresses "to answer the complaint at the next County Court." If any master discharged his servant while sick before the servant's time of service expired, the County Court was to levy on the master for enough to enable the church warden of the parish to care for the sick servant until death or recovery. If the servant recovered, he became free.
The law of servants was considered more lenient than the law of slavery. In 1753 the law prohibited any slave to go armed with any weapon of defense or to hunt in any manner unless he should have a certificate from his master. The servants enjoyed this privilege. Later this right was restricted by an act which forbade any chairman of the county to give permission to any slave to carry a gun or hunt in any form unless the slave's master or mistress went on a heavy bond for damages to any persons in- jured by slaves. No slave was allowed to carry a gun on a planta- tion where a crop was not cultivated, and in case of cultivation, only one slave had the privilege.
In order to see that such restrictions were carried out the justices of the County Court divided the county into districts, and yearly at the first court appointed freeholders in each district, duly sworn as searchers. The searchers examined negro quarters four times a year or more as they thought necessary. As an in-
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ducement for this office, the searchers were exempted from serving as constables, or upon the roads, or in the militia, or as jurors, and did not have to pay any provincial road or parish tax.
November 28, 1803, after a threatened uprising of the negroes in Eastern North Carolina, the law of searchers was changed to the patrol system by the quarterly session of Court of Pleas of Tarboro. They were to conform to the rules and regulations, one copy of which was to be furnished to each and every district. During the time they were engaged the patrolmen were to be exempted from the same duties as the searchers had been. But if one should neglect or refuse to act, he had to forfeit and pay the sum of ten pounds.
The rules and regulations to be observed by the patrolmen of the several districts in Edgecombe County were without a doubt very strict. They provided for the patrolmen to go by night and at such time as they thought would answer the object of their appointment to all the houses inhabited by slaves within their respective districts once in every and each month or oftener if necessary. The patrolmen, if they should find in any of the houses or in the possession of a slave, or in any place of conceal- ment any guns or fighting implements, they should seize the slaves and present them to the court of the county. Reports were to be made in writing, specifying the time and the place where the person or persons in whose possession or care they were found. If any circumstances indicated danger to the peace or safety of the State attending the finding, the patrolmen should apprehend the slave or slaves on whom suspicion rested and carry him before some Justice of the Peace to be dealt with as the law directed. If the patrolers found any slave during night or day more than one mile from the house or the plantation in which he lived, without a paper in writing or some other strong convincing evidence of leave or orders from his owner, overseer, or employer, they or any two of them were permitted to inflict punishment, according to the opinion they entertained respecting the design of the offender, not exceeding ten lashes. If they found any slave behaving in a riotous or disorderly manner, whether at or from home, with or without written papers, they or any two of them might inflict punishment according to the circumstances of the case, not exceeding fifteen lashes, provided they were of the
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opinion that such riotous or disorderly behavior did not proceed from a premeditated design to disturb the public peace. But when they saw or knew of a riot or other disorderly behavior among slaves indicating danger to the peace or safety of the State, they should take and use all necessary and proper means sometimes improper means to apprehend the offenders, and after having apprehended them, they, without inflicting any punishment other than was necessary to their safe keeping, should carry the slaves before some Justice of the Peace to be dealt with according to law.
It is to be understood and at all times remembered that the object of patroling was to prevent public mischief without creating private injury, and, therefore, a slave found from home by day or at an early hour of the night without papers, but behaving in an orderly and peaceable manner and having in his possession something known to belong to his master, overseer, or employer, as a horse or ox, or seeming to be engaged in the performance of some duty to the person to whom he owed obedience, was not punished or turned aside or unreasonably restrained. The patroller or patrollers finding a slave in such situation went with the slave to his owner to know whether the story told by such a slave was true or false, and if false, then severe punishment was inflicted.
Since some owners, overseers, and employers of slaves were not capable of writing, it was further provided that a negro man of good moral character and peaceful demeanor was not to be pun- ished for a mere act of going without a written paper on Satur- day night to see his wife at a house of good fame, where he had long been accustomed to going in such manner with the consent of his master or mistress, overseer or employer, or with an order of illness by a doctor.
In 1807 new rules were adopted by the Quarterly Sessions of Common Pleas in Tarboro. The patrollers were required to call on the master, mistress, or overseer, as the case might be, for the names of their slaves from twelve years of age and upwards. The slaves were enrolled on a list provided and kept for that purpose. Each succeeding time they went through their districts the patrol- men called the names of the slaves that they had collected, and if any were missing or absent between the hours of nine o'clock at night and six o'clock in the morning, or on the Sabbath day,
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the patroller called the master or mistress of such slave which was absent to know whether they were gone on business or by their special permit or knowledge; if neither was the case, the slave was adjudged guilty of the same crime and liable to the same punish- ment as if caught without permit from home. The older negroes still tell how they were accustomed to line up for the roll call when the patroller came to the plantation.
Frequently a disagreement would arise between the master and the patroller with respect to the punishment of the slaves caught away from home. It was then the duty of the patroller to order the master or the mistress of the slave to bring him before some Justice of the Peace at a time and place which they might ap- point. Whenever the master refused to comply with this demand, the patroller would apply to some Justice of the Peace for a warrant for such slave or slaves to appear before him or some other Justice of the Peace to be examined and tried for offense, in which case the cost, according to law, was to be paid by the owner of the slave.
It can be said, without injury to the radicals' feelings or im- posing on the abolitionists' sympathy, that the law concerning slavery was both good and bad. In some instances the slave was protected by local laws enacted by the Inferior Court. This is illustrated by the prevention of whipping slaves who professed Christianity. In 1715 an act prohibiting private burial places was passed in the General Assembly. The frequent occurrence of several mysterious deaths provided that every planter, attorney, and owner of every settled plantation should set apart a burial place, and fence the same for interring all such Christian persons, whether bound or free, that should die on the plantation. What traveler in passing through Edgecombe County is not, today, greeted with scores of little grave yards afar off on the hill ex- tended from the farm mansion? This is the system left from the early period of slavery and is a consequence of this law.
As a matter of precaution, there were, before the interring, three or four neighbors who were required by law to view the corpse, and ascertain whether the person came to his or her death by any violent or unlawful means. If such was the decision of the viewers, it was to be reported to the coroner. A penalty of five shillings was imposed on any one who refused to come and view
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the corpse. Moreover, if any person dying were buried contrary to the law, the person or persons occasioning the same were forced to forfeit and pay the sum of ten pounds, one-third of which went to the informer, one-third to the Lords Proprietors, and the other one-third to the poor. This law, of course, excluded such cases in which it was the desire of the deceased when in his or her life time to be interred elsewhere. This law no doubt did much to prevent unnecessary slaying of the negro slaves who occasionally disobeyed their masters to the extent of killing them.
The most lenient law made by the legislature affecting slavee in Edgecombe was made in 1753. In case a slave did not appear properly clothed and fed, and was convicted of stealing corn, cattle, or hogs from any person not his owner, the injured person could maintain an action against the master and recover dam- ages, and the slave remained unpunished by the law. This law, however, did not prevent the slave from being chastised by his master.
The great trial for the man in bondage had not yet come. The law gave some liberty prior to the year 1800 that he was not to enjoy afterwards. No servant could be whipped, who professed to be a Christian, on his or her bare back, although we find many instances where the law forbade slaves to leave the plantation, and they were refused the right to raise horses, cattle, and hogs- chickens being the only fowl allowed, and in one particular statute of 1777 it was unlawful for any slave in the county to grow tobacco for his own use under the penalty of five pounds currency for every five hundred hills so cultivated, which was to be recov- ered from the master or overseer. Yet the slave was not treated as a beast. On the eve of the Revolutionary War a more humane law protected the slave from willful and malicious killing. After May 5, 1774, any person found guilty of a premeditated or willful murder of his slave was tried by the same law and received the same fine as if the slave had been a freeman.
During the Revolution the slaves in various sections of the precinct took the opportunity of becoming free. Masters, espe- cially Loyalists, were freeing their slaves, and to such an alarming extent that a law passed by the legislature on November 12, 1777, forbade a master to free his slave except for meritorious service, and then at such times only as the County Court allowed the
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decision and gave a license of good faith. There are a few in- stances where the slave owners were debarred from freeing negroes by this law.1
Occasionally, through the graciousness of the master, a slave was freed irrespective of the law, and the negro took chances for his freedom by hiding in the swamps and numerous reed marshes in the county. This gave the slave dealers opportunities to re- capture negroes and sell them again, when the poor slave was so unfortunate as not to find one to plead his case. Various boats made frequent trips up the Pamlico and Tar rivers, bringing various commodities of interest to the negroes and finally enticing them away from their hiding places under profession of friend- ship. English traders came up Tar River to trade with the slaves and decoyed hidden negroes away. A law was passed by the legislature preventing the Englishmen from trading them or carrying them. In 1791 a law was passed to prevent the merchant or trader to harbor or trade with any slave under any pretense. This no doubt was designed to prevent the negroes from hiding and also from being carried away.
In many instances the slaves, in their attempt to get away from the county, forged passes. The legislature later made it punishable by death for a slave to attempt such methods of escape.
The slave who was set free without being adjudged and allowed by the court of the county and a license issued, after an expiration of six months, was taken up by the church wardens and sold as a slave at the next court at public outcry, and the value of the slave was given to the poor. There are three cases where the negroes were sold at the Tarboro court house in 1800. It is not known how much the poor received, however.
In 1781 the law permitted the masters to rent their slaves out by public auction to the highest bidder for any term not exceeding one year. Regular hiring days held in January were established at the court house in Tarboro. Frequently men who had large estates consisting of negroes permitted them to be hired out and the money paid over to their wives after their decease for a con-
" There was no more talk of emancipating slaves until 1885. From this time until the Civil War slaves were frequently emancipated by their various masters. In 1851 several slave masters in the county liberated their slaves, while Jacob Mettles, a prominent planter, emancipated six at one time and shipped them to Liberia on board the "Morgan Dix" from Baltimore.
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tinuous income. There are several instances in which negro laborers were rented at the Tarboro court house. The average price about 1800 ranged from $150 to $200 a year for men, and $65 to $90 for women. By 1856 at the hirings, prices had in- creased and advanced from the time the custom began. Negro men hired for $165 to $200 a year-plow boys and women from $100 to $125. In 1859, a year later, the price increased consider- ably over 1858. Cornfield hands, girls from eight to ten years old, brought from $250 to $300; ten to twelve years old, $80 to $85, while boys from fifteen to eighteen years old brought $180 to $202. Men brought unheard of prices, varying from $175 to $250. All this personal property was put in a heap together and bidden off as public service.
The manner of trying slaves was very interesting as to the method of economizing time. A slave committing an offense, crime, or misdemeanor was committed by the Justice of the Peace to the "common gaol of the county," and the sheriff of the county upon the commitment certified the same to the justice of the com- mission of the County Court, temporarily in the county. The justice issued a summons for two or more justices of the court and four freeholders, such as had owned slaves in the county, to constitute a court. The three justices and the four slaveholders were empowered, and required upon oath, to try all manner of crimes and offenses that were committed by any slaves at the court house of the county, and to take evidence and confession of the defender on the oath of one or two creditable witnesses or such testimony of negroes or mulattoes, bond or free, with circum- stances that were convincing to the justices and to the slave owners, without the "solemnity of a jury."
In order to try slaves, when the offense was of a small and usual nature, and to prevent delay and great loss of time and expense to the owners, a law, as an act for remedy, was passed in 1783. This law provided for all justices to have the power to issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and to pro- ceed immediately upon the trial of any slave and to pass sentence and award execution : provided, however, the punishment extended no farther than the ordering of the defendant to be whipped, not exceeding forty lashes.
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Any Justice of the Peace of the county, who was an owner of slaves, was qualified, irrespective of moral integrity, and pro- nounced fit by the court to act as a member of the County Court though he or they should not be summoned thereto. The law was emphatically stated by the phrase "anything before contained to the contrary, in any wise notwithstanding."
Christian character was an important element in slavery. It made the slave more desirable, and it also influenced the courts and masters to show leniency to the slaves and to treat them with greater mildness and humanity. In case a slave was not a Chris- tian, it was produced as evidence on the trial against him for capital and other trials of crime. He was thus declared to be under a greater obligation to tell the truth. It was, therefore, declared by one act of law in 1741 as a source of protection against perjury, that when any negro or mulatto, bond or free, should, upon due proof made or pregnant circumstance appearing before the County Court, be found to have given a false testimony, was without further trial, to have by order of the court one ear nailed to the pillory, and stand in this position for the space of one hour, and then have the same ear cut off, and the other ear nailed in the same manner and cut off at the expiration of one hour, and moreover to have thirty-nine lashes well laid on his or her back at the common whipping-post.
As a method of prevention of false testimony the chairman of the court charged each negro or mulatto in capital cases before his or her testimony, on not being a Christian, to tell the truth.
There was a case about 1771 and also 1825 in which a negro man called Simon was given a mild sentence of this law. For false testimony he was branded in the palm of his right hand with a hot iron and imprisoned in close jail for twelve months.
The most noted case, that of the State against Will, of a slave, and the greatest in the entire State was tried in Edgecombe County before Judge Donnell in the last Circuit Court, January 22, 1834. It was a case that awakened a general and profound interest throughout the country, and settled the true relation between master and slave in the State. It recognized the right of the slave to defend himself against the assaults of his master in the preservation of his own life-a thing never asserted by slaves heretofore in the county.
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A slave, Will, was indicted for the murder of Richard Baxter. Will belonged to James S. Battle, and the deceased, Richard Baxter, was the overseer of Battle, and was entrusted with the management of the slave at the time of the homicide. Early in the morning of the 22d day of January, the day the killing took place, Will had a dispute with another slave, Allen, who was also a slave of Mr. Battle, and a foreman on the same plantation of which the deceased was an overseer. A dispute arose between Will and Allen about a hoe which Will claimed as his own be- cause of having helved it in his own time, but Allen directed another slave to use it on that day.
Some angry words passed between Will and the foreman, and Will broke out the helve, and walked off about one-fourth of a mile to a cotton field and began picking cotton. Soon after the dispute they informed Mr. Baxter, the overseer, of the occurrence. He immediately went into the house, and while he was in there his wife was heard to say, "I would not, my dear;" to which he was said to have replied in a positive tone of voice, "I will." In a very short time after this Mr. Baxter came out of his house to the place where the foreman was and told him that he was going after Will, and instructed the foreman to take his cowhide and follow him at a distance. Mr. Baxter then returned to the house, took his gun, saddled his horse, and rode to the screw,1 a distance of about six hundred yards, where Will was at work.
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