Ex-slave spelled out owner's wages of sin
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When a co-worker brought "Letter from a Freedman to His Old Master" to my attention last week, I was immediately intrigued.
The letter purports to be from Jourdon Anderson, a runaway slave, to his former "owner," Col. P.H. Anderson. It was written on Aug. 7, 1865, several months after the end of the Civil War. Jourdan lived in Dayton, Ohio. The colonel lived in Big Spring, Tenn.
The letter is such a brilliant exercise in caustic restraint and mockery that it is hard to imagine Mark Twain doing a better job. It was compiled by historian L. Maria Child in "The Freedmen's Book," a free Project Gutenberg e-book released earlier this year. With its provenance assured, I dove in for one of the most hilarious and edifying reads in years.
The following is an excerpt:
"Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdan, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin's to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable.
"Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again, and see Miss Mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville Hospital, but one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.
"I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here. I get $25 a month with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy, -- the folks call her Mrs. Anderson, -- and the children -- Milly, Jane, and Grundy -- go to school and are learning well. The teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. They go to Sunday school, and Mandy and me attend church regularly. We are kindly treated.
First Published February 7, 2012 12:00 am
