Twelve Years a Slave - Enhanced Edition (43 page)

Sunday, May 31st might have been seen a boy and Man sitting under a large live-oak tree situated on the Keary plantation, engaged in earnest conversation. The boy seems to be doing most of the talking, and as he talks he is drawing or sketching something like a map on the ground. As we draw near to them we discover the boy to be William O’Neal and the man his friend Russ.

William is saying: “Do you see this ring? Well, that is Cheneyville; now right up this line running northwest is Lecompte. Here we will make another little ring. Now follow this line and it takes us a little to the west. Thirty miles from Lecompte we cross the bayou on this line and then following this road, which runs directly west, we come to Leesville in Vernon Parish. We will then be forty-five miles from Sabine river. A road runs from Leesville to Devil’s Ferry; here we can cross the Sabine in Mexico, where we are no longer slaves but free men,” and his eyes kindled at the sound of those magic words. [See O’Neal,
Life and History of William O’Neal
, 80-81]

181.
Lew Cheney, belonging to David Cheney, reported plans for an uprising in the area. Fellow slaves later claimed that Cheney was one of the leaders in these plans and became frightened at the consequences and reported it to save himself. A story appeared in the
Niles Register
, October 28, 1837:

On the 18th instant intelligence was received at New Orleans that the negroes in a portion of the Parish of Rapides near Alexandria, had projected an insurrection.

One account says it was divulged and frustrated as follows:

A slave of a planter, Mr. Compton, informed his master that the negroes were forming plans to kill all the white males and spare the females and children, and that if he would go to a certain meeting house, where his negroes assembled for the purpose of preaching, he would discover all their plans. Mr. Compton did go in company with four others but learned very little more of the matter. His informer then told him that the ringleader of the gang was one of his own slaves and that he had sworn revenge against his master for taking him out of the house and sending him to the field. The plan of this fellow, it appears, was to raise an insurrection at Alexandria, next at Natchitoches, and then to turn steps to New Orleans and kill all the whites. The negroes, however, could not agree, which frustrated all their plans. One party was for sparing the women and children; the other for an indiscriminate massacre. Mr. Compton, upon learning these facts, arrested his house servant, the chief, and he confessed on the gallows that it had been his intention to kill his master.

On the 10th and 12th [August] instant, nine were hung and thirty others were taken and imprisoned. It is hoped that all their plans will be discovered. A strong patrol and guard is constantly kept up by day and night and confidence is continued.

Besides the slaves, three free negroes have been hung, and it was intended to drive away all free persons of color. Two companies of United States troops had been stationed throughout the disaffected district. Everything was quiet and the negroes completely subdued. [See
Niles
Register
]

Because there were slaves executed, the planters who owned them were given recompense, and also money was paid for the freedom of Lew Cheney as well as money for the slave to leave the state:

According to the acts of the Legislature that authorized paying for the slaves legally executed, Samuel Cakford owned two, John Pettway owned one, Carter Beaman owned two, John Compton owned one and Vincent Page one. The same act authorized “that the sum of $1,500.00 be paid David Cheney on his warrant as the value of the man Lewis, who discovered the conspiracy among the slaves in the parish of Rapides in the year 1837, on his emancipating the said slave. That on the emancipating of said negro Lewis that shall be paid him out of the money in the treasury the sum of $500.00 to enable him to leave the state and provide for his security.” [See
Niles Register
]

182.
Two incursions into the Boeuf country occurred during the Civil War, both led by General Banks. The first, in 1863, resulted in massive numbers of freed slaves following the Union army. For many slaves the joy of freedom soon turned to horror, as tragedy awaited them due to a lack of preparations.

Nathaniel P. Banks was appointed as general early in the war by President Abraham Lincoln, not because he had any military experience but because of his political connections. Banks was an elegant and even charismatic character who, himself, had presidential ambitions, though Lincoln may not have known that. Banks wanted military victories to improve his own political opportunities. However, Banks did not find military victory easy to achieve, suffering several defeats [See Brooksher, 1-3], and he therefore was assigned to Louisiana as commander of the Department of the Gulf in late 1862, arriving in New Orleans in December of 1862 [See Brooksher, 3].

When Banks took command in Louisiana, Union leaders needed to bring the remainder of Louisiana under control and create an opening to Texas. The object was to reach the Texas Unionists and to provide cotton to mills in New England, England, and France. Also, the hope was this action would dissuade the European countries from either recognizing the Confederacy or joining the war against the Union [See Brooksher, 3].

In March and April of 1863, Banks and his army made the first incursion into the Boeuf country. Banks moved from Brashear City, now called Morgan City, and took Opelousas and Alexandria. During this time, General in Chief of the Army Halleck wrote to Banks several times, urging him to help Grant lay siege to Vicksburg. Grant’s success would split the Confederacy and give the Union complete control of the Mississippi River, just as General Winnfield Scott had suggested in his “Anaconda Plan.” Halleck was annoyed that Banks, rather than help with this overall plan, was marching up into the Bayou Bouef country. Dr. Harris Beecher, a Union soldier, described the regiment’s march:

May 10, 1863.

The road they traveled that day followed the windings of Bayou Boeuf, which is the most singular stream in the state. For over sixty miles it pursues its winding course, without any considerable tributary . . . It is derived from Red River, and flows with a still and rapid current. It is a narrow stream, but a few rods wide, yet it is navigable by a species of canal boat, propelled by horses upon the bank. [See Beecher, 175-176]

After a tiresome march of 30,000 troops, heavy artillery, and supplies for the troops—all pulled by numerous mules and horses—starting at Brashear City, the troops moved up the Bayou Teche and finally to the inland port of Washington where Banks established his headquarters. From there the massive columns moved northward along roads that were actually narrow lanes beaten out on both sides of the narrow Bayou Boeuf. When the troops heading the march reached Cheneyville about thirty miles south of Alexandria, Banks hurried into the Red River port town in a frantic effort to reach there before naval troops sailing up Red River could claim that distinction.

Halleck called these operations of Banks “eccentric,” and told him to stop. Instead, he wanted Banks to unite with Grant as quickly as possible and assured him that he would watch his movements with the “greatest Anxiety . . . I assure you the government is exceedingly disappointed” [See Brooksher, 10-11]. This response from Halleck must have bitterly disappointed Banks. Halleck ordered Banks to command his troops, still arriving in Alexandria, to turn around and retrace their steps to the coast. With some of the soldiers already as far north as Alexandria, Banks sent out an order for them to turn back towards the coast. To the Union soldiers strung out from Bayou Boeuf where it mingles its waters with the Courtableau Bayou, these latest orders to reverse their march made no sense at all. Brevet-Major Elias P. Pellet tells of the ensuing events:

Here we were met by an officer of General Banks’ Staff, with orders to turn back and collect all able-bodied Negroes and take them to Brashear. Swearing availed nothing, and we were soon measuring back the road over which we had passed.

As one looks at the Map of Louisiana, and places one finger at Brashear City and another on Cheneyville, it seems but a step from the one place to the other; he can hardly comprehend the dusty roads, the burning sun, the scarcity of water.” [See Pellet, 78]

Beecher, also of the 114th, wrote:

A weary road of one hundred and fifty miles had again to be traversed. No wonder that our men were discouraged, when it was known that they were short of rations, that their shoes were nearly worn, and that rebel bands were concentrating in their rear. With sad hearts the Regiment countermarched, and passed again through Cheneyville. [See Beecher, 178]

Banks gave orders to his troops to send emissaries into every plantation quarters along the way to the coast and tell them they were to follow the army in the march south. Banks himself, with some of his men, would march west to Port Hudson on the Mississippi River. A letter written July 29, 1863, and signed by General Banks, in combination with text from the Official Report, confirms the reason for his orders to have the slaves from all of the plantations en route ordered to go with the army to the Gulf Coast:

Upon moving our small column across the Mississippi, for the reduction of Port Hudson, he [Colonel Chickering] was charged with the safe conduct of the train—of nearly a thousand wagons, embracing our whole transportation—which it was impossible to move across the river to New Orleans. I regarded the safety of our train as the guage [
sic
] of our success in the campaign. [Edmonds, 126]

The Official Report continues after the copy of the letter to say:

There is a material discrepancy, it will be perceived, between the statement of General Banks that the train consisted “of a thousand wagons,” and that of Colonel Chickering in his diary, who fixed his transportation at fifty army wagons. The former doubtless intended to include what the latter denominated “emigrant wagons,” and which formed the largest part of this transportation for the “caravan.”

It was therefore not the battles he had fought, and the armies he had conquered, that Gen. Banks regarded as “the guage [
sic
] of his success,” but the safe arrival of the vehicles laden with the Negroes and the rich plunder “collected” in Opelousas and Attakapas. [See Edmonds, 126]

Most of the soldiers wearily began returning south. At the plantation quarters, following Banks’ orders, they told the slaves that they were free now, and they were going to be given the plantations and all that went with them:

The social condition was to be inverted; the slave was to be served by his master, and to occupy his place and condition; he was to enjoy an uninterrupted exemption from labor; fine equipages were to await his bidding, and he was to enjoy his case in the quiet mansion of the planter, or in the confiscated dwellings of the City, with their rich furniture and their splendid decoration. [See Edmonds, 100]

The report then gives details of how these slaves joined the wagon train of Chickering:

Vehicles of every description were hastily packed with household goods and human beings. With the aged, the infirm, and the children thus provided for, the more robust mounted in the greatest disorder on horses and mules and precipitately joined the Federal ranks. [See Edmonds, 106]

Comments from the diaries of various soldiers estimate the parade as ranging from about five to nine miles. Similarly, estimates of the number of soldiers ran from 8,000 to 12,000. The actual number was evidently around 4,000. This migration of all able-bodied freed slaves from the Beouf country occurred in late May of 1863. By the hundreds they left with the Union Army, filling the narrow, winding bayou road, going towards the coast.

A correspondent writing from the scene recorded:

At New Iberia I halted and let the train pass. It consisted of four hundred and six carts, each cart averaging not less than six negroes. Every day added to our number. In addition to these, the able-bodied male portion either marched or rode captured horses as we proceeded down. It was a sight perhaps never witnessed before, and may never be again. The carts were those used to transport cane and cotton from the field, and would hold as much as a small canal boat. They were covered with awnings made of all kinds of material. Carpetings, clothing, reed mattings, dried cow hides, boards and everything else which would serve to protect from the sun were used . . . Some of the carts were drawn by oxen, some by horses, some by mules, an ox and a mule drawing at the same cart were not infrequent, and in one case a cow and a mule were harnessed together. The cooking utensils, clothing, bedding, and in fact all the traps of a negro cabin were loaded on, and the aged and the young were piled in promiscuously together . . .

The train was over five miles in length, and when we reached Brashear our crop of negroes was not less than twelve thousand heads. [See Pellet, 82-83]

At the end of the march, the freed slaves, never having known what lay at the end of this journey, found no plans had been made for them. There is no evidence that Banks’ orders to bring the former slaves to the Gulf was proceeded by any planning for their welfare once they reached the coast. George W. Hepworth wrote:

Six thousand came from the plantations between the bay and Alexandria; and are living in such a way, that the mortality during the summer will be most terrible. The able-bodied men have enlisted. The old, the young, and the women are living in little huts, with nothing to do, with no comforts when they are ill, and with more than a fair prospect for a speedy death before them. They are free; but alas! freedom only means the power to die. [See Hepworth, 30]

A large sugar house was taken over for a shelter by a number of the slaves traveling to the coast while others found space at any vacant outbuildings they could or camped at the batture to wait for help. Able-bodied men were sent to join the Union Army, and a number of strong men and women were sent to confiscated plantations to work in the production of sugar cane for the Union Army. A free labor system devised by Banks was used [See Edmonds, 119-144].