By GregoryGoodwinNewson

Author and Illustrator: Gregory Goodwin Newson

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSL. Zane Pinnock, EditorJune Saunders, Editor

All inquiries should be addressed to:Newson Publishing, Inc.2 Washington PlaceNewburgh, NY 12550http://www.NewsonPublishing.com

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by photostat, microfilm or any other means, without the permission of copyright owner

ISBN 978-1-63443-392-1

Library of Congress Copyright 2014

This is a work of fiction. Based loosely on historical events and people, it is in no way meant to be historically accurate. It is intended to be an exploration of the concept of “field slaves” and “houseslaves” first articulated in the speech “Message to the Grass Roots” by Malcolm X in Detroit, Michiganon November 10, 1963. The leading characters of the story are twin boys; Jim and Tyler Lewis areslaves in the antebellum South who are raised in the household of the military hero Thomas“Stonewall” Jackson after their mother dies in childbirth. Jim Lewis was a real man; he was a loyalservant to General Jackson and other Confederate officers after Stonewall Jackson’s death. Jimserved with distinction, valor, and with so much dignity and intelligence, he was treasured as an adviser by the great general. Tyler is a fictional character.

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Many Southerners believed slavery was part ofGod’s will; therefore, some of them were nottroubled by the injustices, seeing it as all partof a divine plan. What was more, slavery wasextremely profitable for Southern slave owners,so strong economic motives were present. Fieldslaves worked long, grueling hours in the hotSouthern sun, harvesting, planting, and nurtur-ing the cash crop of cotton. They were super-vised by overseers who had incentive to makethem work harder and be more productive, evenif it meant using or threatening force. Houseslaves had a slightly more civilized life. Theyslept in the house of the master rather than outin the poor cabins the field hands lived in. Theirhousework was less taxing than field work.Still, they worked from sun up to sun down andbeyond.

One of the harshest cruelties of the slave sys-tem was the disregard for family relationships.At any time, a brother, sister, father, mother,husband or wife could be sold and possiblytransported far away, breaking up the family. Itwas not uncommon for family members to liveon different plantations, with different owners.Their movements were carefully watched sothat visits were hard to come by. White societytold itself that black people did not have thesame family feeling that whites had and did notmind being separated much.

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example to emulate, the field slave might be motivated to behave accordingly andwork harder in the hopes of one day becoming a house servant themselves.

The house slaves was favored by the master, being provided with the master’scast off clothing, trinkets, and other items. This would cause field slaves to aspireto the higher position and higher class in the eyes of the master by adopting theways of white society and Christianity, as the house servant did. “I don’t believethe slave can understand Christianity at all,” said the ex-captain. “They are afraidof their own shadows, and acts of violence alone make them all submissive. Per-haps they all make believe they’re Christians in hopes to live like us white folks.”

Offended, General Jackson rose abruptly. “Sir,” said the general, “Are you implying that almighty God is unable to reach any and all of His creations? If so, Ithink it best you depart,” thus ending the discussion. Stonewall Jackson had a redemptive view of slavery; he believed that it could be used to better the lot ofGod’s black children.

He told the slave captain that it needed to be decided “whether to appoint n#gg#rsmoderate work, plenty of provisions, and such treatment as might enable them toprotract their lives to old age, or was it, by rigorously straining their endurance tothe utmost, with little relaxation, hard fare and hard usage, better to wear them outbefore they became useless and unable to do service and then to buy new onesto fill up their places?” The General preferred the former theory; it was best to cre-ate an environment where slaves would yearn and strive for a higher position, withthe Bible as their guide, rather than lamenting the slave system they were trappedin. His reasons for this were both practical and humane. He warned the slave captain to not take the minds of blacks for granted; as they could form into aunited adversary should they come to hate the system too much. Jackson alsotold the slave captain that slaves’ deliverance to America’s shores required whitemen to perform spiritual and godly acts for their welfare. He noted that keepingslave families together was likely to lead to slaves who worked harder and wereless prone to run away. Further, Jackson felt that by showcasing how the houseslave, exposed to family prayer and Bible study, embraced the Bible lifestyle as an

Slavery almost died a natural death from sheer soil depletion. Tobacco, not cotton, was king for many decades. Cotton required far too much labor to be as profitable as tobacco. Yet tobacco sucked the nutrients out of the land as it was used again and again by the production machine that was slave labor. Because of these factors, in the last days of the 1700s, it looked like slavery was on the decline.

Slavery had been prevalent in American since the 1600s. Even some free black people owned slaves. Yet this cruel institution’s days seemed numbered by the late 1700s. There simply wasn’t enough tobacco growing in the worn-out soil to need the hands of many slaves.

In 1793 Eli Whitney perfected his invention of the cotton gin: a machine that separated cotton seeds from cotton fibers. This invention made cotton a more practical crop to process. Switchingfrom tobacco to cotton, the South experienced an economic rebirth.

The years went by, and the boys who had been so much alike at one timecame to exhibit traits that marked each as his own unique personality. This became evident especially after Jim was soundly beaten for the theft of anapple pie from the kitchen window of Jackson’s house.

It was only later that Jackson discovered that all was not as it had seemed.“Tyler stealed dat pie,” said Simbo, another house servant. “He done stealed itwhen de missus put it in de window t’ cool.” When Thomas Jackson learnedthe truth of the matter, he was impressed that Jim Lewis had stoically endureda punishment that should have gone to his brother. Jackson then came to afateful decision. Jim was to become a house servant and dressed in finery. His

head was to be shaven to distinguish him from his brother Tyler, andhe was to be taught to play the violin.

“Jim makes a fine article,” said Jackson. “He sets the place off splendidly, does he not? Such a handsome boy to open doors, wait tables, and play us a song!”

Tyler was put under the control of an overseer and made into a neg-lected and dirty-looking field slave. He was considered “a spirited boy”whose strong spirit would need to be broken. From that day forward,Tyler’s life became an unending misery of hard labor and painful toil.

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Communication was very important to the survival of the slave, and there were many waysslaves spoke to and informed each other. It was,however, imperative to be sure and not let themaster or his men catch them as they sent andreceived information. If a slave went into town forthe master’s mail, that slave could listen at thepost office while white people spoke of the con-tents of the letters they had received. It was agood way to get news, but the chance that theoverseer would discover them and mete out punishment remained an ever-present threat.

The house slave would remain alert and attentiveto any usable information as they worked in thebig house. If it was heard that the slave-ownerwas having money trouble, that was grave newsindeed, for it could mean that slaves might besold to pay the debt. Many slaves chose to runaway after finding out the master meant to sellthem off. If a house slave could read, he or shecould occasionally peek at a newspaper withintheir master’s house, but this was risky. Slavescaught reading, or even attempting to read, wereseverely punished and often sold away.

It was however, impossible to stem the tide of information completely, and as soon as news washeard or read, it was passed along.

The North was utterly unprepared for the influx ofslaves seeking to escape behind Union lines, either when the Union army drew near for battleor when rumors of their approach reached theears of slaves privy to white conversations (houseservants and the more educated and/or skilledslaves). Male slaves often dared the trip Norththemselves and then returned for wives and children. However, life behind Union lines was notas free as some escaped slaves had envisioned.Camp conditions were often worse than cabin conditions on a prosperous Southern farm or plantation. Menial labor was still the lot of blacks,even on the Union side. There was some white resentment over beliefs that slaves had “caused”the war, and Northern prejudice of the timeequaled Southern prejudice. “Freedom” was notalways all it was cracked up to be.

Jim would sometimes attend meetings late on Saturday nights, when slaves from the different plantationswould come together away from their respective shacks to meet where the masters and the overseerscouldn’t see them.

Tyler was a constant fixture at these meetings, and Jim went to them to see his brother. Jim found that Tylerhad become cold and hard; he was a rabble rouser who inflamed the other slaves about the horror of theirlives and gave fiery sermons about the coming days of war. Jim had overheard conversations about impending war among the white people he served and repeated the information to his brother. Tyler told theother slaves about this and about the unrest and the battles soon to be fought.

“Freedom come wi’ dat . . . let de white folk kill de’ selfs!” he exulted. 19

Jim answered him, with a voice as steady as he could make it: “I can showyou how t’ make it to de north, an’ how t’ keep de hounds from followin’. Putblack pepper in yo’ socks and run wit’ out yo shoes t’ make de houndssneeze. You can walk in de creek, too. De dogs can’t smell you den. An’ Igive you fake papers, so’s you can pass if you is stopped. You must go, Tyler.You must.”

Tyler stood with tears in his eyes and looked at his twin brother. “Let our enemies go on wit’ dey butcheries. Let dem full up dey cups. We gots t’ try toget away, Jim. Dey’s murderers and oppressors, and we needs t’ take our freedom from dey hands! You gots t’ see yo way clear when dat hour do ar-

rive and move fo’ yo’ freedom. Be not afraid, an’ be not dismayed. Yo’white man’s God done been good t’ give us two eyes, two hands, twofeet, and sense in our heads, just as good as dem! They gots no mo’right to hol’ us as slaves den we gots to hol’ dem!” Tyler took his brotherby the shoulders. “Our suff’ring’ bout to end, in spite o’ all de Americansdis side o’ eternity! Every dog must have its day. Dis kind o’ Americahere, dis America is comin’ to its end. Be ready, Jim. Be ready.”

Tyler Lewis ran away that Sunday morning. He had an entire day not tobe missed, as Sunday was a day of rest for both slaves and overseers.

The gospel song “Wade in the Water”is often sung today at baptisms.

However, in the era of slavery, thesong contained covert guidance forescaping.

Since bloodhounds could not tracehuman scent through water, escapingslaves were told through the songthat they should cross through waterto hide the scent of their tracks.

Southern officers imported slaveryinto the army of the ConfederateStates of America (CSA). Althoughmost Confederate soldiers were notslave owners, those who werebrought body servants with them toattend to their personal needs. Keep-ing the slaves at their masters’ sidesproved to be difficult, however. Manyslaves escaped behind Union lines.

These runaway slaves became asource of great aid to the Union army.Not only did many of them labor forthe Union, they provided crucial infor-mation about the movements andmake up of the Confederate army.

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The horse was small in stature, scarcely fourteen hands, quiet and friendly,with a kind eye. He was solid gingerbread in color, with no markings.

Thought at first to be a bit gaunt, probably due to a lack of care and qualityfeed, Little Sorrel was a solid match for Jackson in both temperament anddisposition, or so Jim thought. Little Sorrel was appealing to Jackson, butless as a war horse and more as a surprise gift to his beloved wife. YetJackson thought both Jim and Little Sorrel shared many of the same finequalities: obedience, patience, reliability, and easy-going natures. Perhapsthis influenced Jackson to bring Little Sorrel along with him to war as hehad brought his admirable servant Jim.

Described by a staff officer as “well-made, round-barreled, close-coupled,and good-shouldered with excellent legs and feet,” the horse was consid-ered to be a natural pacer but somewhat lacking in style. Little Sorrel hadexceptional stamina too and would eat whatever was offered to him,whether that was hay or corncobs. He proved to be an excellent war horse.

It was the battle of Manassas that led to General Thomas Jackson becoming a legend, as well as to acquiring his famous nickname.

Anecdotes depict the General as seated astride Little Sorrel, consideringhis tactics, unmindful of the bullets whizzing around him, as still and unmoving . . . as a stone wall. Jim thought he had made the perfect choicewith Little Sorrel, for the horse was as fearless as its master, and stoodthere in that situation with no allegiance to either side, no notion of honor,just courage. As a horse, it might be expected to turn tail and run, but thereit stood; the solid base under Stonewall.

So remarkable was Little Sorrel as a mount, he remained with Jacksonthroughout the war, missing only a few significant events in the general’schronicles.

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Once, after Jackson had entered his tent to pray, Jim held the reins ofLittle Sorrel and insistently waved his hand to the chattering crowd thatwas preparing to break camp. With a look of impatient displeasure and aloud, urgent whisper, he admonished the staff and the soldiers, “Hush!De massah gen’ral prayin’! Y’all be quiet, now!” And immediately therewas silence, which was punctuated fifteen minutes later when StonewallJackson stalked from his tent, ready to go do battle in the service of hisLord.

In fact Jim had a poetic saying: ”For whenever de masta's wakeful, And whenever he prays and groans,Why dem dat lies by his camp-fire feel battle in dere bones.”

Reverend Downing paused here, as if caught up in the memories of hisfather at some deep and instinctive level. “My pappy tol’ me once ’bout atime de general was deep in thought over some paper in front o’ him, asde massah general was fixin’ to make a plan o’ some sort. My pappycome in de room an’ happen to glance down, and sees what de general

was a-workin on. An’ he say t’ de General, ‘Not dat way, suh, not dat way.’Den de general, he look up at Pappy, not angry, mind you, but like he wasconsiderin’. My pappy takes anot’er sheet o’ paper, an’ he scrawls on it forde general an’ hands it to ’im. De general look at it fo’ a bit, den quietly madea change on his own paper.

“Sometimes it was hard to tell if my pappy was a servant t’ de General or atrusted friend, but I tells you dis… if de general had lived t’ de end o’ de war,he an’ my pappy would’a won de Civil War, an’ we be freer den we is now.Wasn’t no way slavery could’a lived pas’ de life o’ General Stonewall Jackson. No way t’all. It would ‘a’ done died on de vine.”

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Tyler had pledged loudly to his black peers that upon returning to Combahee he would raise hissword in full military dress in front of the nearest white family, eat heartily at their family table,and sleep in the master’s bed before burning their home to the ground the following morning.

He took great pleasure in keeping his promise several times once the camps and plantationsalong the Combahee River had fallen to Union raiders.

The chickens had come home to roost!

As a spy Tyler was able to point out key Confederate locations to beraided so that they could not be used. Raiders would infiltrate Confeder-ate territory and burn down buildings and bridges. Sometimes they cameupon hidden stockpiles of weapons, gunpowder, or torpedoes and de-stroyed or stole them. They also liberated 750 slaves during their raids.

“Paterrollers” was a common expression referring to patrollers who po-liced slave movements from colonial times up through the Civil War. Slavepatrols went after runaway slaves, broke up meetings of slaves, capturedand returned to their owners any wandering slaves, or slaves who wereunfortunate enough not to have or to have lost a pass from their ownerto be out and about. Abuses of authority occurred; sometimes slaveswith passes were harassed or beaten. Raids of slave cabins could be con-ducted on a whim. Free blacks were not immune to the intrusions of “pa-terrollers” either.

Fear of a slave rebellion was the great, haunting terror of the South,where a handful of whites might run an isolated farm or plantationwhere they were far outnumbered by their black slaves. This is why JohnBrown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry in 1859 was such a cataclysmic nationalevent--John Brown tried to incite an armed slave uprising. Any hint of aslave insurrection, therefore, was squashed without mercy and some-times without proof. Slave patrols progressed from informal bands tomore official groups. Official or unofficial, patrollers assumed and exer-cised authority and power over slaves that sometimes led to abuses be-yond the basic abuse of denying slaves freedom of movement and ofassembly.

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It was warm the night before Tyler Lewis helped to apprehend his twinbrother Jim before replacing him as General Stonewall Jackson’s slave assistant and right hand man.

That night, Allan Pinkerton again pointed to the other door. His voice wasgrave as he said, “Behind that door, Covey, are people who are going totake great pleasure in extracting the information I want from you. Talk tome, and I will send them away. This is your last chance. Will you cooperate? Will you tell me what me what I want to know?”

Ed Covey was sweating as he looked Pinkerton in the eye and stubbornly set his jaw. He continued to say nothing. Pinkerton nodded.

“Very well,” he said, as if it was exactly what he had expected. Despitehimself, Ed Covey squinted as the door Allan Pinkerton had pointed toopened. Two figures stood in the gloom of the darkened room behindthem. As they entered the space, Ed Covey caught his breath andmoaned softly as a sinking feeling started deep in his gut.

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Reverend Liburn L. Downing was silent for a moment after recounting TylerLewis’s final moments. The atmosphere of the room was as grave as that ofthe battlefield where the reverend’s father had watched his uncle die.

“Uncle Tyler didn’t take down de fo’ces o’ Stonewall Jackson’s as he hoped to,you know. Generals Jackson and Lee, dey flanks de Union fo’ces and it wasamongst de finest moments de Confederates had in de war. And mah pappy,well, he went on t’ be a mighty respected man. He was wit’ other white officersof the Confederates too, and everyone respec’ him. Even Missus Jackson, sheworried ’bout Jim when the general died, ’cause Jim was so devoted to degeneral, she afraid he like to die of sorrow hisself. General Stonewall Jacksonwas a fine man, and a great soldier, and he and my pappy loved t’ other almos’like brothers, almos’ like frens’.”

“And it’s why dis window here is monument to his mem’ry.” With that, Reverend Downing closed the lesson for the day, and as he watched the class file out of the church, his mind lingered on the image of his father cradling the head of his dead uncle. With one final glance at the stained glass window that was a tribute to the memory of the man who had founded the small Presbyterian Church known at the time as the “Colored Sabbath School,” the reverend stepped down from his podium and left the building.

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