Anna Scott Narrative (2 of 3)

Introduction

StaverySlavery, from as far back as Biblical times, through the centuries to medieval history and down to negroNegroNegro slavery in America, which every school child can discuss as a remote oc–curranceoccurrence, is not as far removed as it may seem in this progressive and civi–lized country. Particularly interesting infor–mation, can be known from the untutored mind of an ex–slave, who still possesses a keen and unbroken memory of happenings during slavery and early reconstructionReconstruction days of our country.

Facts concerning incidents which Historyhistory records, interspersed with individual experiences of joy and sorrow, paint a picture before the mindsmind's eye which rivals the most striking paintings of the old artists who portrayed the life and activity of the Southern plantation during slavery.

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Anna Scott was born at Dove City, S.C.South Carolina, January 28, 1846, of a half breedhalf–breed Chero–kee Indian &and negroNegro mother. Her father, an Anglo–Saxon, was the owner of the plantation adjoining that of her master. When Anna 2A technical limitation currently prevents us from centering this page number, as well as others on pages that follow. reached the adlescentadolescentWe read in the original adlescent, which may reflect pronunciation. As we find no documentation of the form as a dialectical variant, however, we have emended. age, she was placed under direct care of her mistress, Mrs. Abigail Dove, and was given charge of dining room and also trusted with keys to provisions and other valuables of the household.

By virtue of the close association of the slave girl and her mistress, —for Anna claims to have gone every whereeverywhere her mistress went, —a kindred love grew between them.(insert page here) The material to be inserted (the rider, as Muse's annotation calls it), is located on the following page and occupies three pages (pp. 3-5 in this edition). We present the material in the order in which it appears in the physical document, not incorporating the inserted material into the location Muse indicates. ~~The test was made and Anna remember well~~ ~~when~~here rider ends Abraham Lincoln signed the Emanci–pation Proclamation, and when Sherman's Armyarmy marched through Georgia and on to South Carolina. — Sheshe relates with warmth and feeling the joy of the negroesNegroes when the Union Army bore the glad tidings of great joy that all slavesslaves' shackles had been broken and negroesNegroes were free indeed. She relates the fear and anxiety of her young mistress upon hearing of the approach of Sherman's Armyarmy. She did not know what to do, and fear possessed her. Anna was fearful lest harm should befall her mistress, but when the head officer in charge of the squadron reached her home,The text that follows immediately after her home begins at the top of p. 6 (and marched) below.

Rider (page 2)

Here begins the addendum meant to be inserted in the middle of page 2. This "rider" occupies this page and the following two.

Anna was kept in the "Bigbig Househouse," as the master's home was termed by slaves. She was a trusted servant and had a sympathetic feeling for her brothers in slavery, and although her mistress was continually with her, she denied her the privilagepriviledge of education, which some mistress'mistresses willingly gave their slaves. However, she and other slaves were allowed to attend revival and other church services. The Whitewhite people permitted slaves to occupy the balcony of the church in Dove City, S.C.South Carolina, where Anna was held as slave. The Wwhites occupied the main floor, and the slaves were forbidden to sing, talk, or make a sound. To do either meant a terrible whipping or worse punish–ment. If by the preaching a slave felt the Spirit of God permeating her being, she was restrained from making an outcry or confession in the midst of the Wwhite people. She was obliged to keep silent until she got out in open and could meet the negroNegro deacon, who would listen to her profession of religion. The Negro deacon would, in turn, relay the incident to the Whitewhite deacon, who would Rider (page 2) have the converts meet in the vestry room of the church. Such questions as these would be the proceedureprocedure.: Question: "What did you come up here for?" Ans.Answer: — : "Because I got religion." Ques.Question: — : "How do you know you got religion?" AnsAnswer: "Because I know my sins are forgiven." QuesQuestion: — : "How do you know your sins are forgiven?" AnsAnswer: "Because I love Jesus and everybody." Ques.Question: "Do you want to be baptised?" AnsAnswer: — : "Yes sir." QuesQuestion: — : "What do you want to be baptised for?" Ans.Answer: "Because it will make me like Jesus wants me to be." After such questions, the Whitewhite deacon set a day, and all candidates were baptised in the creek, or ford of a river. When slaves wanted to hold their church meetings, the white people allowed them to use the log school houseschoolhouse for white children. A white preacher instructed them concerning the Bible, and every means was used to keep the slavesslaves' mind in attitude of submission and obidienceobedience.The original appears to read obidience, which might reflect pronunciation, but as this is uncertain (the distinction between e and i is not always clear), we have emended.

Immediately after AnnasAnna's conversion she claims to have had a vision one evening (Rider (page 3 while sitting on the front porch. She had always been terribly afraid of the dead, and in the vision an angel appeared before her and said, "Do not fear death, but be ready when the angel comes for you." She claims that from that day forth, she has not feared death, and her only fear is of God, — God–like.

When "Freedom" — was declared, Anna had been prepared spiritually to realize the significance of what it meant to be Freefree. and to appreciate the Aact of Abraham Lincoln when he signed the Emancipa–tion Proclamation.

Here continues the text at the bottom of page 2.

and marched up to front door and demanded entrance, he spied a ring upon the mistress' finger. He lifted her hand and looked scrutini–zingly at the ring^ of a Master Mason asking, "whereWhere did you get this?" The mistress said, "It was my husbandshusbands';. I am Mrs. Abigail Dove, the widow of Daniel Dove." The commander turned and threw his hand up in protest to his men saying, "getGet back,. she'sShe's alright.".

At that same time, the Union soldiers broke open box carsboxcars which held provisions of the Confederate soldiers and distributed ^ to the slaves these provisions &and other property they had confiscated, along their march. Anna said, her mother, Sarah Dove, who also had been one of the slaves of the Dove family, sent the colored people to get meat, and she and her brother toted meat all day and all night and hid it in dug outdugout under the mistress' house,". After the soldiers had marched by and they felt safe, the negroesNegroes divided provisions and meat with Wwhites to keep them from starving, as all their food had been confiscated. The meat which was buried under the house was already smoked and some salted, and it fed 4 a larglarge number of Whiteswhites and slaves through a long period.

After the army passed, next came the Provostprovost judge., who required a list of the names of slaves held by each master or mis–tress, as ^the case presented. Mrs. Abigail Dove gave her list to the judge upon request, and as he called each slave’s name, he or she was questioned as to what duties were theirs in or about the house or plantation. He asked if they had received any pay since the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, and if answered in the negative, he said, “You are free now and must be paid for all work you have done since signing of it up to this time and henceforth. Don’t you work for anybody without pay.”

Anna told of conversations which she overheard between Whitewhite slaveowners, in which they lamented the fact that their slaves and their property had been taken from them and, "whatWhat shall we do.?" was the expression her mistress exclaimed.

~~The soldiers had full charge of the towns and the contents and proceeded to break open box cars where the Confederates~~

The provost judge further annouced that slaves were prevelagedpriviledgedThis appears to be prevelaged in the original. to go to their relatives, and as Annas'Anna's mother had been separated from her husband, and he sold to a family up in Charleston, S.C.South Carolina, her mother desired to go there to join him. Besides Anna, Sarah Dove had 5five other children by her husband, Elias Mumford, so she took her children and went to Charleston. It was necessary to cross a river on way up, and log rafts which formed flat boats were used to transport the slaves across the river. Long ropes were attached to these “flats,” and men on the opposite side held ends, and as soon as the boats was loaded, the men would draw it across river. After the unloading, the men on the opposite side would draw it back &and refill again &and again. thisThis was continued until all had crossed. Trains were consficated also, so free transportation on trains completed the journedjourney. After reaching Charleston one year, Anna attended school.

Two years after freedom, Elias Mumford, Anna’s step–fatherstepfather, heeded the 6 call, along with hundreds of others, and joined a band of 650 souls on an expedition to Africa. Free transportation was offered in this instance, and the second boat loadboatload that went in 1867. Elias Mumford, his wife Sarah, his daugh–ter Anna, &and the other 5 children boarded the boat, Africa bound. The trip lasted for weeks, but finally the shores of Africa was reached. The first place offered the slaves for landing was Grand Bassa, W.West Africa. Elias Mumford was hard to please, and when the small boats took the exslavesex–slaves to the shore three miles from the big boat, he viewed the surroundings and turned back in disgust. Monrovia, the capital, was next stop. He exclaimed upon landing there, “I wouldn’t live in that place”. Finally, when all landing places were reached and visited by home –seeking Negroes, Elias has not yet found a place to suit his taste, but was told to, "getGet off here or out in the ocean," so he chooschose the former, and 7 Harper Cape at Palmus, W.West Africa,The reference, more properly, appears to be to the town of Harper, located on Cape Palmus. became his home, where he so–journedsojourned eight (8) years. Elias Mumford had progressive ideas and was bent on making a fortune. He at oneonceWe have emended one to once. began an industry which proved beneficial financially and otherwise. AystersOysters Anna claims were as large as saucers, and the shells, were gathered by her step–father and burned, thereby leaving lime as a residue. He took the native clay, and with the lime derived from the shell made brick, baked them in the intense heat of the African sun, and started the first brick yardbrickyard in the town. Besides this, he cut trees, made lumber &and sold this to the natives and missionaries. He was a carpenter, so had three ways of making his fortune increase, for he sold the lumber &and bricks and built the houses also. He built a brick house for a Missionarymissionary and received $1,100.00 for it. Another opportu–nity for increasing his wealth was presented when the Missionariesmissionaries received their pay in form of checks. They had no way of cashing them, except to send them back to America to banks for payment. To avoid 8 the delay in getting cash to use, the Missionariesmissionaries grasped the opportunity Elias Mumford offered to ^cash the checks at a discount. In doing this, he accumulated a goodly sum of money, which he saved.

With a good sum, obtained in making in selling brick, lumber, and the brokerage business, he was wealthy as was con–sidered at that time.

The stay in Africa was not filled with joy, however, for the illness, death, and heart–achesheartaches were far in excess of the joy.

Anna related the pestilence of the "Missionmission Antsants," which infested the houses, churches, stores, and every human place of inhabitance. It was sometimes necessary to burn a building in order to rid the locality of the pests. The bite was so effective that, although it has been sixty –nine years since she was bitten, her feet are still infected as a result, so much so that she can not wear a shoe with any degree of comfort. The marks are plainly 9 visible today. Another ant, knowknown to the natives of Africa as "Driverdriver Antant", are of such large size and are so powerful and stubborn in their march that even streams of water do not halt their progress. They join them selvesthemselves together above the surface of the stream and form a bridge across it, &and the others march across over the bridge. This exodus of “Driverdriver Antsants” continued for weeks, and their approach could be seen at great distances, and Nativesnatives began closing up and buiding fires to prevent their entrance to buildings &and camps. Fires had to be keepkept burning for weeks until they had passed by.

Another terrible barrier toward progress of the American –born Negroes, upon returning to what the Whitewhite man called their native Africa, was the African fever. Anna stated that eight &and ten per day died, and if dew fell upon a victim of the disease, death was always inevitable. In her family, three of the children became victims of the dreaded diseacedisease and died. The 10 family remained eight years over there, and the step–fatherstepfather decided he wanted to return to his native birth placebirthplace, so the family came back to America, and Elias Mumford, who had saved his money &and the checks he had discounted &and cashed, brought ~~his~~ them to America and cashed them all at one time. With this money, he bought real property and began farming, carpentry, and building. He died some years later, leaving his four surviving children a worthwhile inheritace.

Two years after their return from Africa, Anna married Robert Scott, and they came to Jacksonville and purchased a farm using part of Anna’s inheritance from her mother, who had passed away, and part that Robert Scott had accumulated. She has lived continuously on this land and has vivid memory of Jax —early Jacksonville —We do not resolve the abbreviation Jax here, as elsewhere (see This Edition), because Muse herself clarifies what it represents. and its Whitewhite inhabitants, as well as Negro.

A woman built physically after the Indian squadsquawThis appears to be written as squad in the original. is of medium height, weighing about 150pounds, fair complexion with few wrinkles, mixed gray &and black head of 11 hair which still affords two braids, as she wears her hair in Indian style, parted down the center. Her straight nose with medium high cheek bones and eyes black and as sharp as an Eagle'seagle's. Her teeth seem in fair condition, and her intellect is out of the ordinary when compared with other ex–slaves. Her English is that of a Southern Whitewhite man, and she seldom uses what is termed poor English. She is quick to detect the purpose of an interviewer and is coorperativecooperative when it comes to retatingrelating past instances that she understands to be helpful in ascertaining facts concerning Slaveryslavery and early Reconstruction.

Now in her ninety–first year, she tends her ^small farm, does her own house workhousework, and is a constant out–dooroutdoor liver, except during night, when she retires very early. She lives alone, can use a double barreldouble–barrel shot gunshotgun with accuracy, having shot a covycovey of birds a few weeks ago. 12 She attends to her own business with the tax accessorassessor and bank, and guards her financial affairs jealously.

Finally, Anna Scott is one of the most versatile ex–slaves I have ever talked with, and ~~her~~ association with her is highly educational and most enjoyable.