Secrets of the Late Rebellion

Accordingly, after tea, instead of going back to his store he went direct to Judge Freese's quarters and told him the whole story, just as his wife had told it to him. The Judge listened attentively, and, when Mr. H. had finished, said, in a very quiet but in a very determined way, that the case should have his careful and prompt attention. The Judge then told Mr. H. to please bring his wife around to headquarters next morning, that she might make a formal affidavit to what she had seen and heard, after receiving which he would direct the Provost-Mar-shal to arrest Mr. H., and bring him and the two servants before the court at its next sitting. Next morning early Mr. and Mrs. H. went to the general headquarters. The Judge wrote down, as Mrs. H. detailed it, the story as heretofore told, when Mrs. H. added her signature and made affidavit as to its truthfulness. The Judge then sent for the Provost-Marshal, and ordered him to arrest Mr. D. and bring him and the two servants, Mary and Jane, before the court at ten o'clock.

The arrest of so prominent a citizen as Mr. D. spread through the city like wildfire, and, when the court assembled, the court-room was crowded in every part. After all the other prisoners present had been discharged or sentenced, the case of Mr. H. was called. He arose, when his name was called, and said he was there in obedience to the orders of the court, but for what cause he knew not, except – if he had understood the marshal aright – for punishing his own slaves, which, according to the laws of Virginia, he certainly had the right to do. The Judge only replied that he (Mr. D.) would probably understand his rights better after the case had been tried, and then directed that the trial proceed. Mr. D. asked if he could be represented by an attorney.

"Certainly," replied the Judge, "if the attorney will first take the oath of allegiance to the United States Government."

This the attorney present declined to do, and Mr. D. was obliged to act as his own attorney. The first witness called was Mary, the slave-mother. She testified, in response to questions by the court, that she had been born the slave of Mrs. D.'s father, and had lived in his family until Mrs. D. was married, when she had been given to Mrs. D. as her maid or body-servant; that her daughter Jane, then about five years of age, had been given to Mrs. D. at the same time; that she, Mary, had never been married, but when less than twenty years of age had repeatedly been ordered to the bedchamber of Mrs. D.'s father; that Jane was none other than the daughter of Mrs. D.'s own father, and consequently half-sister to Mrs. D. herself; that she had frequently asked her former master and her present mistress for the privilege to learn to read and write, and, when she had learned herself, that she might teach her daughter Jane, but they had always refused, and given as a reason that the laws of Virginia made it a criminal offence to teach a slave to read or write; that both she and her daughter had been generally well treated by Mr. and Mrs. D. until the Union troops came to Alexandria; that since that time both seemed to have entirely changed in their disposition towards her and her daughter; that nothing they could do seemed to please them; that both she and her daughter had been forbidden to go upon the street at any time or upon any occasion, and that finally they had been forbidden to look out of the windows; that they had tried to obey even this order, but, on hearing music and the tramp of passing soldiers, they had sometimes been drawn to the windows unthinkingly; for this one offence and for no other – for Mrs. D. always reported them to her husband, and seemed to take pleasure in doing so whenever she chanced to catch them at a window – Mr. D. had whipped both her and her daughter several times most terribly; that he always took them to the garret, tied a cord around each wrist, threw the cord over a beam and drew them up until their toes just touched the floor, stripped them to the waist, and then with a rawhide gave them as many lashes as he thought they could stand without fainting; that her own back, and her daughter's as well, were so raw and sore that they could hardly wear their dresses; that Mrs. D. always encouraged these whippings, and that neither she nor her husband ever manifested the least sympathy with their subsequent sufferings; that neither she nor her daughter had ever made an attempt to escape from bondage, nor had either of them ever threatened their master or mistress so to do, notwithstanding all they had suffered. She wept frequently while giving in her testimony, and at times almost the entire audience seemed melted to tears. The Judge was observed to wipe his eyes frequently, and several times his voice was so choked with emotion that he had to hesitate some moments before he could put the next question. The whole of Mary's evidence had to be drawn from her lips, item by item. She seemed all the while afraid to answer questions, and said nothing of her own accord.

Jane was next called. Her evidence entirely accorded with her mother's, so far as her knowledge extended. Mrs. D., she said, had never found any fault about her work – only about her looking out of the windows, and this she had not meant to do, but did it every time without thinking. When she heard the music of a band, or the tramp of soldiers, some irresistible force always drew her to the nearest window to look out. She could not help it, though her life depended upon it. Both she and her mother were passionately fond of music, and when their mistress played on the piano in the parlor, they generally managed to leave their work long enough to stand and listen, by a door ajar, until the music ended. She did not understand why she and her mother should be so infatuated – crazy as she called it – about music. She only knew that it was so, and that neither of them could help it.

Mrs. H. was the next witness. She detailed, carefully and succinctly, what she had heard and seen the afternoon before. Told of her long and agreeable acquaintance with Mr. and Mrs. D., and how much she regretted the rupture of those friendly relations. Said she had frequently heard Mrs. D. speak in the highest terms of her two servants, Mary and Jane; that several times before that afternoon she had heard strange, unusual noises next door, but never until then had she heard them plain enough to know what they meant. On leaving the witness-stand and resuming her seat, she burst into a flood of tears, and it was several minutes before she could regain her self-possession.

The Judge then asked Mr. D. to call any witnesses he had present, or to present himself or his wife as a witness, if he thought proper.

Mr. D. replied that he had no witnesses in the case, neither did he propose to offer himself nor his wife as a witness; that he substantially admitted all that had been said by the witnesses for the prosecution, except as to the severity of the punishment inflicted. In that, he thought, the witnesses had all exaggerated. In the excitement attendant upon the punishment of a servant, however, one might strike harder blows, and more of them, than he intended or knew of at the moment; but he certainly never had intended to punish either Mary or Jane to the extent they had described. His defence, he said, was that he had done nothing more than the laws of Virginia authorized. That, within maiming and death, the law gave to a master the authority to punish a slave to any extent he pleased. That ever since Federal troops had been in the city he had suspected Mary and Jane to be planning means of escape, and that it was to make them realize his right to them as their owner and master, and to keep them in wholesome dread of his authority, that he had forbidden them to go upon the streets, to look out at the windows, and had occasionally punished them in, as he thought, a very mild way. Besides, he thought a military court had no right whatever to interfere with the relations between master and slave, and hoped the court would think proper to dismiss the case. He spoke in a very pompous manner, and took his seat as one who had entirely demolished his adversaries.

For a few moments there was an almost death-like silence in the court-room. No one spoke. You could almost have heard a pin drop on the floor. The Judge then ordered Mr. D. to stand up to receive the sentence of the court. Mr. D. stood up. The Judge then proceeded to say, "Sir: You are charged with assault and battery upon these two defenceless females, Mary and Jane. The evidence is clear that you committed such assault, not once only but several times. Indeed, you yourself admit it. Your defence is that they are your slaves, and that, according to the slave code of Virginia, you had the right to punish them to any extent you pleased within that of maiming or the taking of life. I am not familiar with the slave code of Virginia, and cannot say of a certainty that you represent it wrongfully, but I can say that if such authority exists upon any statute-book of any State, it is a disgrace to civilization, and the sooner it be expunged the better. But, sir, it matters not to this court what the laws of Virginia may be upon this or upon any other subject. This is a United States military court – a court of necessity, and 'necessity knows no law' is an old maxim – a court established because all other means of justice had fled from this city – a court governed by the principles of equity, rather than of law – a court established to protect the lives, the natural rights, and the property of every inhabitant of Alexandria, without regard to their political opinions, their religious predilections, their sex, their condition in life, or their color – a court which does not, and cannot, recognize slavery in any shape or form – a court which now and ever will protect the lives, the personal rights, and the property of those called slaves as readily as of those called masters. While this court possesses no power to dissolve the relation which the laws of a State have made possible between master and slave – that power belonging alone to the President of the United States in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the army and navy – yet it does possess the power, and it is its imperative duty, to protect the weak against the strong, the slave against undue severity from his or her master or mistress, and particularly from inflicting punishment without adequate cause. The evidence in this case, sir, shows that you had no cause, no reasonable cause, for inflicting any punishment whatever on either of these females; that they were both uniformly good servants, that your wife invariably spoke of them as such until the Union troops came into this city, and that then, and not till then, you conceived the idea that they would escape from your service if they could, and to counteract such a thought in their minds you gave them commands contrary to all the laws of nature; and because they did not, for the reason that they could not, obey these unnatural commands, you inflicted upon them both a degree of punishment such as a man would be indictable for if inflicted upon a horse. This you try to excuse by saying that, while in a passion, you may have struck them harder and oftener than you intended; the answer to which is that a man subject to such violent passions, and devoid of mercy, as you, sir, appear to be, is utterly unfit to have in his power those who are unable to defend themselves against brute violence. Those whom you abuse, therefore, must be taken from your control; must be placed in the hands of those who will treat them kindly, treat them as human beings; and though this temporary taking away may not destroy your legal right to their services at some future time, it will, at least, protect them from your violence for the present, and it may be that, before this sentence shall have expired, a merciful Providence may induce the President to issue a proclamation of universal freedom to all the slaves of this land. Meanwhile, this court will use all the power it possesses to protect them from undue violence from those who call themselves their owners; and the court desires to give fair warning now, so that all may be without excuse hereafter, that from henceforth this court will regard an assault made upon a so-called slave in precisely the same light as if made upon a free white person. For every stroke laid, upon a slave hereafter, without justifiable cause, the master will receive a like number, or other punishment equal thereto, by the sentence of this court; and the only reason why you, sir, are excused from corporal punishment now, is, that you acted ignorantly – acted, as you supposed, under the laws of Virginia, and without knowing the law or orders of this court upon this subject. Hereafter no one within the jurisdiction of this court can have any such excuse.

"The sentence of the court is, that you, Mr. D., immediately after the adjournment of this court, go with the Provost-Marshal to his office, and there, over your own hand and seal, with the Provost-Marshal as a witness, execute a permit to Mary and to Jane, each, to leave your employ at once, and take with them whatever of clothing or other articles heretofore recognized as theirs – to engage their services as domestics to whomsoever else they please, to receive in their own right and to use as they please, whatever wages may be agreed upon between them and their future employers – to go and come when and wheresoever they please, and in no respect whatsoever to be subject to your direction or control. And the further judgment of the court is, that this sentence shall remain in full force and virtue so long as the war between the North and the South continues.

"To you, Mr. Provost-Marshal, the court begs to say that you will not permit Mr. D. to leave your custody until he has fully executed this order; and should he refuse, or even hesitate, you will at once lock him up in the county jail, and report to this court for further orders.

"To you, Mr. and Mrs. H., the court begs to return not only its thanks, but the thanks of every peace-loving, mercy-loving, freedom-loving citizen of this community, for having brought this case before the court, and thereby put a check, if not an entire stop, to an evil which otherwise might have grown to huge proportions; and, as a further manifestation of your good hearts, the court requests that you will take Mary and her daughter in your own employ, until such time as a better arrangement can be effected, if that be ever possible.

"The court stands adjourned until to-morrow at ten o'clock."

While the Judge was delivering this sentence, perfect silence prevailed; but the moment he closed, a buzz of approval ran throughout the court-room, amounting almost to cheers. Mr. D. and his attorney, and the few friends immediately about him, looked like so many dark thunder-clouds in a clear sky; but the contrast only made the sky to appear the brighter. The crowd dispersed. The sentinels present, at a shoulder-arms, with fixed bayonets, at once formed a front and rear guard to the Provost-Marshal and his prisoner, and, when on the street, a hollow-square, until they reached the Provost Marshal's office. A permit, such as the court had directed, was then prepared, to which Mr. D. put his hand and seal, with the Provost-Marshal as a witness. The Provost-Marshal then went with Mary and her daughter (Mr. D. still accompanying and not yet discharged) to Mr. D.'s house, where the two servants were permitted to gather together their clothing and whatever else they claimed as theirs. Mrs. D. was at first disposed to refuse the servants their clothing, or anything else, and to talk loudly against the injustice of the court, etc.; but a word of caution from the Provost-Marshal, and a beseeching look from her husband, effectually closed her lips. When Mary and Jane had got all together, in such bundle as they could easily carry, the Marshal accompanied them to the residence of Mrs. H. and there left them.

Mrs. H. met them in the entry-way, and the moment they saw her, both servants fell on their knees and begged to kiss her hand, or even the hem of her garment. They wept and laughed alternately, and it was some time before she could get them to arise from their knees and go to the room which had been prepared for them. The transition from slavery to virtual freedom, from constant dread to free volition, to what had seemed to them a hell to what now seemed to them a heaven, had been so sudden, that they could scarcely realize it as possible; and, when they reached the room assigned them, both again fell on their knees, and for a full hour returned thanks to God for his mercy and loving-kindness, and implored blessings on those who had shown them such unexpected kindness. Both Mary and her daughter were members of the Methodist Church – the former had been so for many years – and both had always led, so far as was known, consistent Christian lives.

The result of the trial was soon in the mouths of everybody, some condemning, but a large majority approving. The effect was, that not a single similar case was brought before the court after that. The warning of the court was so plain and pointed that all who owned slaves in Alexandria felt that they knew, as well before as after, what punishment would follow ill-treatment, and none were ill-treated.

Had like courts followed the army, or been established in every city of the South on the day they fell into the hands of Union troops, what immense suffering might have been saved; how many rescued from premature graves, caused by inhuman treatment; and how many thousands could have been given the blessed boon of freedom, who were run into Texas, thence to Cuba and Brazil, and thence consigned to a fate worse than death itself!