The Project Gutenberg eBook, Thirty Years a Slave, by Louis Hughes

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Thirty Years a Slave

Author: Louis Hughes

Release Date: December 10, 2003 [eBook #10431]

Language: English

Character set encoding: US-ASCII

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THIRTY YEARS A SLAVE***

E-text prepared by Brett Koonce and Project Gutenberg Distributed
Proofreaders

Transcriber's note: The inconsistent spellings of the original have
been retained in this etext.

THIRTY YEARS A SLAVE

From Bondage to Freedom.

THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY AS SEEN ON THE PLANTATION AND IN THE HOME OF
THE PLANTER.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LOUIS HUGHES.

PREFACE.

The institution of human slavery, as it existed in this country, has
long been dead; and, happily for all the sacred interests which it
assailed, there is for it no resurrection. It may, therefore, be asked
to what purpose is the story which follows, of the experiences of one
person under that dead and accursed institution? To such question, if it
be asked, it may be answered that the narrator presents his story in
compliance with the suggestion of friends, and in the hope that it may
add something of accurate information regarding the character and
influence of an institution which for two hundred years dominated the
country--exercising a potent but baneful influence in the formation of
its social, civil and industrial structures, and which finally plunged
it into the most stupendous civil war which the world has ever known. As
the enlightenment of each generation depends upon the thoughtful study
of the history of those that have gone before, everything which tends to
fullness and accuracy in that history is of value, even though it be not
presented with the adjuncts of literary adornment, or thrilling scenic
effects.

CHAPTER I.

LIFE ON A COTTON PLANTATION.

* * * * *

BIRTH--SOLD IN A RICHMOND SLAVE PEN.

I was born in Virginia, in 1832, near Charlottesville, in the beautiful
valley of the Rivanna river. My father was a white man and my mother a
negress, the slave of one John Martin. I was a mere child, probably not