Our master was a cruel man, who tortured and beat us slaves. He would beat, and whip us to encourage his men, and as a lesson to the slave rebels.
Every once in a while, a few of the slaves would get together, and in the nigh, would set all the masters horses free, or dump his laundry in the river. My, and a few other families didn't want any trouble from the white men, so we stayed out of the big rebellions, but every once in a while we would break our equipment, and tear our clothing. If we were given a new chore to do, we would act like we didn't understand how to complete the task successfully, and sabotage it.
Master was a very rich man, so when the cotton gin came he immediately bought one. Instead of adding in the cotton to the cotton gin, we poured in a bag of rocks. It caused the machine to shudder and break down. Master was very angry at us, and gave us lashings. But it was worth it.
That night we heard a knock on our door. It was the next-door slave family. They welcomed themselves, and gave us a bag of raisin bread, and clean bandages. We thanked them, but hurriedly whisked them away. If the night guards saw them enter, that would mean more lashes for the both of us.
One time we had even tried to run away. We lived on the boarder from Virginia to Maryland, we could cross to the north. Maybe get a job and live better lives under new names. But that night, the night we were about to leave, the guard caught us sneaking past, and at dawn, we got a public whipping.
