The deep respect and love that President and Mrs. Davis had for people is clearly shown in the story of little Jim Limber “Davis.”
BLACK CHILD IN THE CONFEDERATE WHITE HOUSE
Jim Limber was an orphaned black child whom Mrs. Varina Davis rescued from an abusive guardian. Jim Limber was “adopted” by the Davis family and became an integral part of the Davis family while they were in Richmond.
While traveling through Richmond, Mrs. Davis saw a Negro man beating Jim. She at once went to Jim’s rescue and brought him to the Confederate White House for care. The following day, she had the appropriate papers registered at city hall in Richmond to insure Jim’s status as a free person of color. Mrs. Mary Boykin Chesnut wrote in her diary of seeing little Jim the day following his rescue. She stated that “The child is an orphan Mrs. Davis rescued yesterday from his brutal negro guardian. He was proudly dressed up in little Joe’s clothes and happy as a lord. He was very anxious to show me his wounds and bruises [given him by his former guardian].”74
From the time little Jim was “adopted” by the Davises, he was treated as one of the family. Even in letters, the family would speak fondly of Jim. In one letter written by ten-year-old Maggie to her brother Jeff, she states, “Jim Limber sends his love to you.”75 Many people reported how happy Jim was with life at the Confederate White House. Unfortunately for all, the war was coming to a sad end, and with it the happy life of little Jim.
After the fall of Richmond, the Davis family tried to make their way across the South beyond the Mississippi River. Near Irwin-ville, Georgia, President Davis and his family were taken prisoners. Varina Davis told of the sufferings of the next few days by all members of the family, including little Jim. Mrs. Davis was horrified by the statement of Union captain Charles T. Hudson who threatened to take little Jim away and make him his own. Mrs. Davis states, “[Captain Hudson], an extremely rude and offensive man, certainly no military gentleman, threatened to take Jim Limber away from us … and keep him as his own.” 76 When Jim learned that he was to be taken away, he put up one heck of a fight, clinging to the Davis children, screaming and begging to be left with his “family.” But pleas of mercy had done little to stem the tide of infamy that had been poured upon the South over four years of war, and such pleas could do little now, even coming from a little boy. The Davises were told that Jim would be taken to Washington. Northern papers ran stories of “Jim Limber one of Jefferson Davis’ slaves” who they said would carry scars on his back from the beatings given him by the Davis family. Mrs. Davis denied that Jim was ever beaten by any of the Davis family, “… for the affection was mutual between us, and we had never punished him.”77 None of these statements ever made any headlines. After all, the Northern press had their own agenda to pursue, and telling the truth about Jim would not further that agenda.
Other than a few stories in Northern newspapers, the Davis family could never re-establish contact with Jim Limber. No one to this day has revealed what became of him. As late as 1890, Varina Davis said that they still prayed for Jim and hoped that”… lovable little Jim Limber … has been successful in the world.”78
In life, the Davis family displayed a genuine love for the people given to their care. That love was returned and displayed on the occasion of the death of the former president.
On December 8, 1889, in New Orleans, Louisiana, Jefferson Davis died. As the news flashed over the South, telegrams and letters began to pour in offering the sympathies of many people. One such telegram was from the old Davis family plantation signed by thirteen people which read, “We, the old servants and tenants of our beloved master, Honorable Jefferson Davis, have cause to mingle our tears over his death, who was always so kind and thoughtful of our peace and happiness. We extend to you our humble sympathy.”79 Thornton Montgomery, a black man whom Jefferson Davis had helped educate, sent the following message from his home in Christine, North Dakota: “I have watched with deep interest and solicitude the illness of Mr. Davis … and I had hoped that with his great will power to sustain him he would recover. … I appreciate your great loss, and my heart goes out to you in this hour of your deepest affliction. …”80
After Davis’ death, on the last trip the body of the beloved president was accompanied by his last body servant, Robert Brown. Brown was seen weeping uncontrollably at the outpouring of love that was displayed for his former master.
Yes, the life and death of President Jefferson Davis displays to all who are open-minded enough to look how different the relationship between slave and master actually was as opposed to the way in which it is far too often depicted. But yet, the Abolitionist cult still refuses to admit that they could be wrong about the South, and they continue their vicious attacks against anything Southern. They quickly tell us that these blacks, who displayed love for Davis or for anything Southern, were only lying about their true feelings in order to get ahead or to keep from being brutalized by the “rednecks.” For example, liberals will state that the only reason that Robert Brown cried for Jefferson Davis was because as a black man he had to do so to keep from being abused by white Southerners. What they conveniently overlook is the fact that Brown could have just disappeared after Yankee-induced freedom. He did not have to maintain a relationship with the Davis family. Look at the warm letter of condolence from Thornton Montgomery, a black man from North Dakota. Does anyone think that a black man living in North Dakota would fear white Southerners? North Dakota is not exactly a Southern state. If anything, Mongomery would have incurred the wrath of the white community of that Northern state by saying positive things about Jefferson Davis. Yet, the liberals still tell us that these blacks were not sincere in their display of affection for Jefferson Davis or for the South. For those foolish enough to fall for that line, let us consider the life and actions of two black men who were part of the Reconstruction government of the South.
EX-SLAVE PROTECTS HIS WHITE FAMILY
The following account is taken from the Turnley family history, published by the family of Rick Formby of Alabama in 1976. Sam Turnley was a slave of the Turnley family of Jacksonville, Alabama. As Sherman’s army marched toward Atlanta, Georgia, Sam deserted the Turnleys and joined the Yankee army. Here is how the story is reported in the Turnley family history:
A man named Sam was given to Mrs. Turnley by her father, Benjamin Isbell, at the time of her marriage. For a time he worked as a blacksmith in Rome, and when Sherman’s Army came, Sam joined them and marched with a brigade toward Jacksonville where he had lived with the Turnleys. He asked to see the General, and insisted, until finally he was permitted to see and talk with the General. He told him he had to have a squad of soldiers to protect his mistress. When told that he was free, and that he no longer had a mistress, Sam insisted. He had seen what happened when soldiers arrived in new territory. The result was that the Turnley Family, the home, the chickens, cows, and silver, all were protected.
After the War Sam became a Member of the State Legislature. He Visited Grandmothers Isbell and Turnley in Chattanooga, … went into the kitchen to eat, thanked his former mistress, and left to make his way to Montgomery to meet with the convening Legislature.81
Here we have an account of a slave who ran away to join the Union army, but nevertheless still had a strong desire to protect his “people.” Even after the war, as a black member of the Alabama legislature, he continued to visit his old mistress. Can anyone believe otherwise than this man was acting out of love and respect for his people?
BLACK REPRESENTATIVE DEFENDS DIXIE
The sincere respect that many black people had for their “white folks” was clearly displayed by a black Republican in 1890. Representative John F. Harris was a legislator from Washington County, Mississippi. According to the 1870 census Harris was from Virginia and could read and write. While a member of the state House of Representatives, he had an opportunity to vote for a resolution to erect a monument to the Confederate soldiers of Mississippi. Now, if we were to be guided by the Abolit
ionist view of the South, we would have to believe that this elected black official from Mississippi would take this opportunity to vote against such a resolution. Surely a black man from the South, having been a slave before Yankee-induced freedom, would not want to pay homage to Confederate veterans. But according to the “Journal of House of Representatives State of Mississippi,” Representative Harris voted for S.B. NO. 25, “An act for the benefit of the Confederate Monument, now in process of erection on the Capital Square, Jackson, Miss.”82 This bill was passed by a vote of fifty-seven yeas to forty-one nays, with Representative Harris, a black man, voting with the majority.83 Not only did Representative Harris vote for the funding of a Confederate monument, but also he spoke eloquently for passage of that bill. His speech was reprinted in the Daily Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, Mississippi, on February 23,1890, as follows:
Mr. Speaker! I have arisen here in my place to offer a few words on the bill. I have come from a sick bed. … Perhaps it was not prudent for me to come. But, Sir, I could not rest quietly in my room without … contributing … a few remarks of my own. I was sorry to hear the speech of the young gentleman from Marshall County. I am sorry that any son of a soldier should go on record as opposed to the erection of a monument in honor of the brave dead. And, Sir, I am convinced that had he seen what I saw at Seven Pines and in the Seven Days’ fighting around Richmond, the battlefield covered with the mangled forms of those who fought for their country and for their country’s honor, he would not have made that speech.
When the news came that the South had been invaded, those men went forth to fight for what they believed, and they made no requests for monuments. … But they died, and their virtues should be remembered. Sir, I went with them. I too, wore the gray, the same color my master wore. We stayed four long years, and if that war had gone on till now I would have been there yet. … I want to honor those brave men who died for their convictions. When my mother died I was a boy. Who, Sir, then acted the part of a mother to the orphaned slave boy, but my ’old missus’? Were she living now, or could speak to me from those high realms where are gathered the sainted dead, she would tell me to vote for this bill. And, Sir, I shall vote for it. I want it known to all the world that my vote is given in favor of the bill to erect a monument in honor of the Confederate dead.84
What a scene to have witnessed! A former Confederate soldier and an elected black official of Mississippi lecturing a white representative and the son of a Confederate veteran on the duties one generation has for defending the truth about the gallant deeds of another generation. Not only did Representative Harris vote for funding the Confederate monument, but also all six black Republicans voted with Harris on this matter.
On the next day, the House Republicans (six black men) presented the Democratic speaker with a silver set in honor of the warm working relationship they had with the speaker and with other Democrats. In his presentation, Representative Moore stated:
I was born in Mississippi, but raised in a Northern State; associations there led me to regard the Southern white men as dire foes to the Negroes, but receiving such cordial and unprejudiced association upon this floor [House of Representatives] by the entire Democratic party here these tebidus [sic] suspicions have been eliminated from the bosoms of this feeble six and for them I am authorized to speak. You are our best friends; … This has been termed the Jeff Davis Legislature possibly because the Republicans voted for your Confederate Monument Bill. … In tendering you this, we tender a grateful hand to every Democratic member, for you have shown to be our friends, not our enemies.85
Here we see the spokesman for the six black Republicans of the Mississippi House of Representatives speaking about the warm relationship they enjoyed with the white representatives and about their unanimous vote for the Confederate monument. Indeed, the relationship between the black and white people of the South was much better than many would have us believe.
We have called upon first-hand accounts of black people who lived during the war and after the war to give us an insight into the nature of slavery and of life in the Old South. Yet there are accounts that will seem even more shattering to those who still can see nothing but “bullwhips and lynchings” down South.
GEORGIA SLAVE DEFENDS SLAVERY
In 1861, a slave named Harrison Berry wrote and published a pamphlet entitled “Slavery and Abolitionism, as Viewed by a Georgia Slave.”86 The above statement flies in the face of the currently held opinion about slavery. First, the idea that a slave could read and write in 1860 is something that most Abolitionists conveniently overlook. Second, the very idea that a slave, literate or not, would freely defend the system of African servitude strikes at the heart of a very sacred Yankee myth. Yet, here we have, in black and white, the very words of a slave as he attacks “fanatical abolitionists.”
Berry’s story is unique and inspirational. Harrison Berry was born a slave in Jones County, Georgia, in November 1816 as the property of David Berry. When his master’s daughter married S. W. Price, Harrison Berry was given to her. At the age of ten, Harrison began working in the law offices of John V. Berry, one of David Berry’s sons. “These employments were such as to leave a good deal of time at his own disposal, which he was induced to improve in learning to read and write.” As he grew up, he was trained as a shoemaker, and spent much time, with the assistance of the Berry family, in improving his reading ability.
He was induced to write upon the subject of Slavery from a firm conviction that Abolitionist agitators are the worst enemies of the Slave, and from the settled opinion that Slavery is according to the Divine Law. He believes, furthermore, that Southern Slaves are in a much better condition than if they had remained in their native land, and this opinion has been formed after a fair and impartial examination of the subject in the light of history, philosophy, and religion.87
Thus wrote H. C. Hornady in the introduction to Berry’s pamphlet on slavery.
In his own words, Berry tells the world that “ … I am a Slave, and have been all my life, and therefore, claim the opportunity, at least, of knowing what Slavery is, and what it is not.”88 Berry goes on to state that he was moved to write upon the subject of the agitation for the abolition of slavery by watching how the “evil dangerous and highly detrimental” attacks by the Abolitionists were hurting the very people they pretended to help. He makes it clear that he was writing his pamphlet for the enlightenment of the Northern Abolitionists who did not understand the nature of Southern slavery. Berry’s defense of the South echoed other Southern voices raised during the war. After the war, he became a prominent preacher and continued to write on subjects such as theology.89
SLAVE PREACHER DEFENDS HIS MASTER
From Richmond, Virginia, comes the story of one of the South’s greatest preachers. Without the benefit of formal training the Reverend John Jasper made his impression on the world not as a political activist, or a civil rights leader, but as a proven warrior of the Christian Church.
Jasper was born a slave in Virginia.90 For many years as a young man he felt the call to be a Christian. His master, Samuel Hargrove, whom he called “Mars Sam,” was a good Christian man and did his utmost to encourage his slaves in Christian ways. During his life as a preacher, Rev. Jasper had only kind and gracious comments about his former master. He gave this account of how his master responded to the news of his giving his life to the Lord:
Little aft’r I hear Mars Sam tell de overseer he want to see Jasper. Mars Sam was a good man; he was a Baptis,’ an’ one of de hed men of de old Fust Church down here, an’ I was glad when I hear Mars Sam say he want to see me. “John, what was de matter out dar jes’ now?” … I sez to him: “Mars Sam ever sence de fourth of July I ben cryin’ after de Lord, six long weeks, an’ jes’ now out dar … God tuk my sins away, an’ set my feet on a rock … de fires broke out in my soul, an’ I jes’ let go one shout to de glory of my Saviour.”
“John I b’leve dat way myself. I luv de Saviour dat you have jes’ foun’, an
’ I wan’ to tell you dat I do’n complain ’cause you made de noise jes’ now as you did.” He … walk over to me and giv’ me his han’, and he say: “John, I wish you mighty well. Your Saviour is mine an’ we are bruthers in de Lord.” … Mars Sam well know de good he dun me.91
During the war, and while John Jasper was still a slave, he could often be found at the Confederate hospitals in Richmond preaching to the sick and wounded Confederate soldiers.92 Is it any wonder that after the war his church was often filled with both black and white people who came to hear this dynamic preacher?
The warm and cordial relations between John Jasper and his master lasted until Sam’s death. Even after the war, Jasper would often tell the story of his Christian master from the pulpit of his church.
Jasper often thought of his old master as he preached. His feelings for his former master were well stated when he said:
Oft’n as I preach I feel that I’m doin’ what my old marster tol’ me to do. If he was here now I think he would HP up dem kin’ black eyes of his, an’ say: “Dat’s right, John; still tellin’ it; fly like de angel, an’ wherever you go carry de Gospel to de people.” Farwell, my ol’ marster, when I Ian’ in de heav’nly city, I’ll call at your mansion. …93
The story of the Reverend John Jasper stands out as a clear indictment of the falsehood told about the South and its system of African servitude. The close relationship between black Christians such as John Jasper, and white Christians such as Samuel Hargrove, was not unusual in the Old South. The warm relations between black and white people are manifested in stories all across the South. The history of the Palestine Baptist Church, Simpson County Mississippi, relates such a story. The Palestine Baptist Church was organized in 1786 (one year before the United States Constitution was ratified) by twelve men, eleven white and one black.94 The church has served the community from that date to the present. In 1858 the church had 175 members, 100 white and 75 black.95 These black members were a vital part of the ongoing evangelical work of the church. The significance of the black members of the church is obvious: the first Baptist church west of the Mississippi River, for example, was established in Louisiana by Joseph Wills, a black preacher.96 Some historians have taken note of this close relation between the Christians of the two races and the increasing number of black church members in the Old South.
The South Was Right Page 13