TO MY OLD MASTER:
In August of 1865, a Colonel P.H. Anderson
of Big Spring, Tennessee, wrote to his
former slave, Jourdon Anderson, and
requested that he come back to work on his
farm. Jourdon — who, since being
emancipated, had moved to Ohio, found
paid work, and was now supporting his
family — responded spectacularly by way of
the letter seen below (a letter which,
according to newspapers at the time, he
dictated).
Rather than quote the numerous highlights
in this letter, I'll simply leave you to enjoy it.
Do make sure you read to the end.
UPDATE: Head over to Kottke for a brief but
lovely little update about the later years of
Jourdon and family.
Dayton, Ohio,
August 7, 1865
To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson,
Big Spring, Tennessee
Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find
that you had not forgotten Jourdon, 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 twenty-five
dollars 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. Sometimes we overhear others
saying, "Them colored people were slaves"
down in Tennessee. The children feel hurt
when they hear such remarks; but I tell
them it was no disgrace in Tennessee to
belong to Colonel Anderson. Many darkeys
would have been proud, as I used to be, to
call you master. Now if you will write and
say what wages you will give me, I will be
better able to decide whether it would be to
my advantage to move back again.
As to my freedom, which you say I can
have, there is nothing to be gained on that
score, as I got my free papers in 1864 from
the Provost-Marshal-General of the
Department of Nashville. Mandy says she
would be afraid to go back without some
proof that you were disposed to treat us
justly and kindly; and we have concluded to
test your sincerity by asking you to send us
our wages for the time we served you. This
will make us forget and forgive old scores,
and rely on your justice and friendship in
the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-
two years, and Mandy twenty years. At
twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two
dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings
would amount to eleven thousand six
hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the
interest for the time our wages have been
kept back, and deduct what you paid for our
clothing, and three doctor's visits to me,
and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the
balance will show what we are in justice
entitled to. Please send the money by
Adams's Express, in care of V. Winters, Esq.,
Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for
faithful labors in the past, we can have little
faith in your promises in the future. We
trust the good Maker has opened your eyes
to the wrongs which you and your fathers
have done to me and my fathers, in making
us toil for you for generations without
recompense. Here I draw my wages every
Saturday night; but in Tennessee there was
never any pay-day for the negroes any more
than for the horses and cows. Surely there
will be a day of reckoning for those who
defraud the laborer of his hire.
In answering this letter, please state if there
would be any safety for my Milly and Jane,
who are now grown up, and both good-
looking girls. You know how it was with poor
Matilda and Catherine. I would rather stay
here and starve—and die, if it come to that
—than have my girls brought to shame by
the violence and wickedness of their young
masters. You will also please state if there
has been any schools opened for the
colored children in your neighborhood. The
great desire of my life now is to give my
children an education, and have them form
virtuous habits.
Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him
for taking the pistol from you when you
were shooting at me.
From your old servant,
Jourdon Anderson.
