Twelve Years a Slave

by Solomon Northup

  10. Pulitzer-winning New York historian Carleton Mabee, an authority on black education in New York and author of Black Education in New York State, states:

  In Northup’s Twelve Years a Slave, he appears to be literate but perhaps only on a moderate level. Your introduction [to 1968 edition] calls him ‘educated’ (p. x) and ‘literate’ (p. xvi). Northup at various times, as I understand it, was a carpenter, fiddler, rafter, canal or railroad or farm laborer, or hack driver, none of which would necessarily require significant literacy. But this work might have been facilitated if he was significantly literate. Northup ‘entered into contracts’ for rafting [p. 8, 1968 edition]. To do this effectively might well require the ability to read and understand the contracts. (See image of contract signed by Solomon Northup in photo gallery). [See Mabee to Eakin]

  11. The lowlands of the Bayou Boeuf area were unhealthy in the subtropical summer climate when rains caught in pools became stagnant water where mosquitoes bred. It wasn’t until 1907 when it was discovered that malaria was caused by anopheles mosquitoes, and effective treatment was developed. The 2,000 additional breeds of mosquitoes caused other fevers, sometimes deadly. Because of this, all who could afford to do so spent the warm months in shacks along the creeks running through nearby piney woods. In Cheneyville, Dr. Jesse Wright from Connecticut became a very important medical doctor for the area [See Stafford, Three Pioneer Families].

  In the early settlement era in New York, health conditions under frontier conditions were no better:

  Life expectancy in this period [1775-1825] was a fraction of its present figures. Disease ravaged the population almost unchecked and little understood. Disorders almost unknown today were commonplace. Smallpox left its scars upon thousands, while tuberculosis filled 20 times as many graves in proportion to the population as it did in 1967. Malaria, sometimes called ‘the shakes’ or ‘Genesee fever,’ riddled the frontier population. Typhoid and many other contagious diseases struck every community, and cholera hit the seaports. Only one-half the number of children born reached their fifth birthday—a sobering statistic in the light of modern advances. Medical attention, if available, was practically worthless. [See Ellis et al., 207]

  12. Solomon Northup would have been unusual among people, black or white, in upstate New York during this settlement period. The Bible and the Farmer’s Almanac were usually the only two books, if there were any, in homes in the newly settled country with a scattered population. There were no public libraries or schools. Upper New York State was at such a stage in its development during Solomon Northup’s early years. A graphic description from Cornell historians regarding New York applies equally to Louisiana, certainly to Bayou Boeuf, settled mostly after 1812:

  The amount of improved farmland rose from about 1,000,000 acres in 1784 to 5,500,000 acres in 1821. These rough and impersonal figures cannot begin to describe the backbreaking task of hewing farms from the wilderness, an accomplishment which wore out at least one generation. The pioneer’s cabin, built from logs selected during the clearing process, was a temporary structure until the farmer could afford to erect a house made from boards, nails, and glass. [See Ellis et al., 163, 165]

  13. Fiddling, for those born talented, black or white, was a very special gift in the days before invention of radio and television; fiddling added much to everyday lives and was a valuable asset to the performer. Entertainments like dancing required music by the musically gifted, and fiddling or skill on other portable musical instruments brought distinction and, sometimes, a little money. Solomon was undoubtedly one of those who was in demand, often unpaid, but contributing grandly to enhancing the lives of himself and his peers.

  Notwithstanding Northup’s description of his fellow slaves as “simple beings among whom his lot was cast,” many were skilled and extraordinary people, like William O’Neal and Old Hawk:

  Old Hawk, the negro slave, was generalissimo around the stables and on the training track. He was said to have been one of the most astute trainers in the country at that period. [See Stafford, The Wells Family of Louisiana and Allied Families..., 93]

  The most famous horse he trained was Lecomte, who beat his half brother, Lexington, at the Metairie race track in New Orleans on April 8, 1854; thus, “the race crowned Lecomte champion of the American turf” [See Stafford, Wells Family ..., 93]. Mallard, a slave in New Orleans, became one of the most famous cabinetmakers in the South. Outstanding cabinetmakers, seamstresses, cooks, inventors of farm equipment, and those with many other specialized skills were among Bayou Boeuf slaves [Davidson, Three Centuries of American Antiques, 263].

  14. A room at the Fort Edward House is furnished as nearly as possible to replicate one of the rooms of Solomon Northup when he and his family lived there [See Historical Sketches of the Old Forthouse Museum, 15-16].

  15. The money Solomon used for the new business came from payment after a lawsuit against his earlier employer, Washington Allen. A suit filed July 13, 1838, Solomon Northrop [sic] vs. Washington Allen, was sent to the Court of Appeals. Northup signed a contract with Allen “to deliver 6 lockings containing each 2 cribs of Dock Sticks from White Hall to Gleason [?] lockes in Waterford on the Champlain Canal for the sum of $7.50 each crib.” Upon arrival at the designated destination, Allen discharged him “on account of intemperance and did the work himself, was compelled to hire other hands & sustained damage and paid expenses . . .” A trial was held in Saratoga County courthouse on June 25 and “a verdict rendered for the plaintiff of 50 dollars and judgment was rendered thereon for that sum and costs amounting to 55 Dollars in the whole.” Interestingly enough, James L. Prindle, who would testify for him after his rescue and return to New York, testified at this time. Prindle stated:

  that the deft [defendant] said he had discharged Plff. [Plantiff] from the work when he had first undertaken it, because he the Plff, was intoxicated and had torn or would tear the cribs; that the witness saw him that day about that time he thot. [thought] Plff. had been drinking considerable, but not so much as to disqualify him for business: that Plff general character was that he was industrious and not in the habit of being intoxicated, tho [though] in the habit of drinking some. [See Solomon Northup vs. Washington Allen]

  Other witnesses commented with varying perspectives on how much Solomon had been drinking:

  The defendant introduced David Morehouse as a witness who testified that he saw Allen discharge Northup, and that Northup had been drinking & thought he was not competent to take charge of the rafts on account of his intemperance . . . Allen said he did not want him, but took charge of the raft at White hall . . . [See Solomon Northup vs. Washington Allen]

  The verdict was rendered in Solomon Northup’s favor, probably because he had delivered the lumber, and the problems causing Northup’s suit against Allen occurred at the destination. The contract between Solomon Northup and Washington Allen involving rafting is filed at the Saratoga County Clerk’s Office, Box A33. Ms. Sonia Taub, retired librarian, Saratoga Springs, provided copies of these documents and other information.

  16. The Louisiana lumbermen were likely not formally educated, but they were professionals in their work, skilled and knowledgeable not only about the trees, but also the wildlife that lived there. Rafting was, and had been for many years prior to Solomon’s arrival, a daily part of their lives. Of course, Solomon Northup may have been the first to raft the circuitous route over the shallow streams which took him to Lamourie.

  Even before the Europeans’ arrival, Indians lived in the Louisiana forests covering an estimated one-third of the state. They moved logs in a country laced with bayous, creeks, and big rivers. The forests allowed the colony what little commerce developed. Lumber, tar, and pine resin were manufactured [See Tarver interviews].

  17. Saratoga Springs was a most extraordinary resort city:

  For most of the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth, Saratoga Springs, New York, enjoyed a national reputation as a leading summer resort. The waters of its
myriad springs, reputed for their medicinal value, attracted outsiders as early as 1783 when Phillip Schuyler, Revolutionary War general, established Schuylerville as his country estate and began inviting his friends to partake of High Rock Springs in what is today called Saratoga Springs. The nation’s young aristocracy, eager to mimic the habits of its European counterparts, for whom regular visits to established spas were part of the regular social circuit, responded enthusiastically. [See Armstead et al., 27]

  18. The United States Hotel has an interesting history. In Views of American Cities, Augustus Kollner writes:

  By the 1840s the United States Hotel had become the most popular of the major hotels. Many distinguished people had been guests there: Joseph Bonaparte, former king of Spain and Naples, the Marquis de Lafayette, J. Fennimore Cooper, President Martin Van Buren, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and Washington Irving. [See Kollner, 178]

  A newspaper article in the New York Herald for August 21, 1847, reported:

  The elite of Saratoga—the northern millionaires, the southern planters, and the fashionables, who comprise probably about a fifth of the five or six thousand visitors at the springs,—quarter at the magnificent United States Hotel . . . These people are many of them exceedingly profuse in their expenditures. Many of the ladies lavish a mine of wealth, and tax the ingenuity of all the modistes, on the costly splendor and variety of their dresses . . . The proprietors of this hotel realize a net profit of $20,000 to $40,000 during the season of three months, the sum varying according to the general prosperity of business in the country. This United States Hotel burned on June 18th, 1865. A new United States Hotel opened on the same place in June of 1874. [See Kollner, 178]

  19. According to Ellis et al.:

  Apprenticeship, indentured servitude, and slavery lost ground because New Yorkers found free [meaning freemen] labor more efficient, reliable and flexible . . . Slavery, however, was losing ground during the last half of the 18th century. People found it generally cheaper to hire free labor than to maintain slaves during periods of idleness as well as usefulness. [See Ellis et al., 86-87]

  Perhaps because of these conclusions, New York provided a method for slaves to become free, as Solomon Northup was:

  In New York State, the gradual Manumission Act of 1799 stated that the children of slaves born after July 4th of that year were to be freed at the ages of twenty-eight and twenty-five, respectively, depending on whether they were male or female. The Act of 1817 freed all slaves as of July 4, 1827. [See Armstead, et al., 5]

  20. Solomon Northup was twice convicted of assault and battery, once in February 1834 and on May 1, 1834. He was again convicted of assault and battery on May 1, 1839, as shown in the Court of Oyer & Terminer, Ballston Spa, New York [See Ballston Spa vs. Northup].

  While Solomon was a slave on Bayou Boeuf in Louisiana, his family was growing up. Alonzo, his son, served honorably as a Union soldier:

  Private Alonzo D. Northrup [sic] enlisted #1028 as laborer, page 27, on February 15, 1864; Company F, U.S. Colored Infantry; described as black and 5’8” tall; saw action at Beaufort, South Carolina as a teamster on July 7, 1864, transferred to the 20th U.S. troops as per instructions from the War Department, mustered out on August 28, 1865, at Hilton Head, South Carolina. [National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D. C.]

  21. Neighbors seemed not to have been surprised about his sudden absence because he was known to leave home without explanation and return when he chose [See Lewis to Morton, March 29, 1962].

  Chapter Two

  22. Northup, in testimony given at the hearing of the case, described his meeting with the strangers in Moon’s Tavern, who later turned out to be his kidnappers:

  ‘Northup testified that he first saw Merrill and Russell at Mr. Moon’s Tavern at Saratoga Springs; they did not appear to have any particular business; they wished to hire witness to go to New York with them to drive their carriage and play the fiddle in a circus company to which they said they belonged.’ This testimony was given by Solomon Northup at an examination held before Abel Meeker and David W. Maxwell, Esquires, Justices of the Peace, at Ballston Spa, on Tuesday, July 11, 1854. [See “The Northup Kidnapping Case”]

  A man named Prindle, a friend of Solomon since 1826 or 1827, added significant details regarding the kidnappers. His testimony was at the same hearing held at Ballston Spa on Tuesday, July 11, 1854, and reported in the Saratoga Whig:

  Identifies Merrill, and says he saw him on Montgomery Hall stoop at Saratoga Springs, and a day or two after saw him in a carriage there; another man in carriage who had long hair and large whiskers. Saw Solomon Northup drive away; the carriage containing the two men. Had some conversation with Solomon before he started, told him that he had not better go off with those men as they would not know him when they got away south; others told Solomon the same story.

  On cross examination, Prindle says, he remembers having prisoners pointed out to him as [being] from the south and about to buy Mr. Seaman’s horse. Solomon told witness that he would risk the prisoners selling him; told him again he had better not go south with them, meant to the slave states. [See “The Northup Kidnapping Case”]

  23. Merrill Brown was the alias of Alexander Merrill, and Abram Hamilton was the alias of Joseph Russell [See “Sol. Northup’s Kidnappers,” 2].

  24. The fact that the neighbors did not consider Solomon’s disappearance in 1841 unusual may have related to the circumstances in which he lived, with irregular employment at different jobs over the years:

  The brevity of this summer season left year-round black workers/residents of Saratoga scrambling to make ends meet during the long months of winter unemployment. Several strategies helped them survive these lean times, but chief among them were reliance on summer savings and the use of credit . . . Very few Afro-Americans escaped the economic marginality and financial insecurity brought on by their seasonal and/or low-paying positions at work [See Armstead et al., 29-30].

  25. As recorded by James Goode:

  Charles Dickens, who visited Washington in 1842, a year after Northup was abducted, describes his stay at a Washington hotel which almost certainly was Gadsby’s. Created in 1826 out of a row of houses, the hotel was sold and remodeled extensively in 1844 after Gadsby’s death. At that time it was renamed the National Hotel. Dickens describes it as “a long row of small houses fronting on the street and opening at the back upon a common yard . . .” It would therefore have been easy to conduct Northup unseen out into the yard and thence into an alley alongside of the hotel. Dickens also describes buildings across the street from the hotel. One of these may have been the source of the light seen by Northup as he emerged from the alley onto Pennsylvania Avenue [See Goode, 168-169]. (Editor’s note: There are inaccuracies in the Goode piece cited, including an error in the hotel’s location and the year Dickens stayed there.) [See Dickens, 115-116]

  26. The drug slipped into Solomon’s drinks could have been belladonna or laudanum, or a combination of both drugs [Northup, 1968 edition, 19].

  Chapter Three

  27. Both names, Burch and Birch, are listed in the U.S. Census 1840 as living in Washington, D.C. Wilson spelled the name as Burch, but the spelling given by the commander of the Auxiliary Guard to Joseph C. Lewis during the trial of the kidnappers was Birch. Thus, the editor is spelling the name with an “i,” believing this to be the spelling used by the trader, James H. Birch. The thirty-nine-year old resident of Washington, D. C., was a major slave trader at the head of what the editor calls a Reverse Underground Railroad. The full extent of the criminal operation is not known, but it involved a number of professional criminals in the business of kidnapping people of dark complexion and selling them in the southern slave market, where there was a need for labor on the plantations. Slave traders at Richmond, Virginia, and New Orleans, with close ties with Birch, are cited in the Northup story, and there may have been others. There is still the question of the connection of the brig, Orleans, with the ring. Other men kidna
pped en route to New Orleans and placed on the Orleans experienced captures closely resembling that of Solomon Northup. Birch owned considerable property in the capital and evidently enjoyed important contacts with powerful political figures. In 1852 he was appointed commander of the Auxiliary Guard, a volunteer group working with the police force in the City of Washington and the District of Columbia [See People vs. Merrill and Russell]. When a deposition from Birch was taken by Joseph C. Lewis in Washington, D.C., during the trial of The People vs. Alexander Merrill and Joseph Russell, the document read:

  By virtue of the annexed commission I proceeded to open the Same in the City of Washington and District of Columbia on the 6th day of January, 1855, when James H. Birch, one of the witnesses named in the Said Commission, personally appeared and, after being duly Sworn made the following answer to interrogatories in Said Commission:

  I state that my name is James H. Birch—that I was fifty years old in October last—that I was appointed by the Mayor of Washington, D.C. to the Command of the Auxiliary Guard in June, 1853, which said Guard is part of the Police force of the City and District aforesaid and which office I still hold—that I reside in the City of Washington, D.C. [See People vs. Merrill and Russell]

  28. Theophilus Freeman, former partner of James H. Birch, managed Freeman’s Slave Pen in New Orleans and continued a business relationship with Birch. This is clear with the nine slaves belonging to Birch being shipped on the brig Orleans, documented by the ship manifest, to Theophilus Freeman at New Orleans. An advantage to selling kidnapped slaves in New Orleans, the way Solomon Northup was sold, was less risk of exposure of the crime, since slaves were sold into remote west central Louisiana. Rural Louisiana was at the edge of the western frontier with sparse population and difficult communication with the urban North. Historian Judith Kelleher Schafer describes Freeman: