Slave Life in Georgia - African American History

Slave Life in Georgia 24
John Glasgow thus suspended was flogged and twisted for an hour, receiving
"five licks" or strokes of the raw cowhide at a time, with an interval of two or
three minutes between, to allow him "to come to, and to fetch his breath." His
shrieks and groans were most agonizing, and could be heard, at first, a mile and
a quarter off, but as the punishment proceeded, they subsided into moans
scarcely audible at the distance of fifty paces. All Stevens' slaves were made to
stand by during the infliction of the torture, and some of them took turns at the
whipping, according to the instructions of their master, who swore he would
serve them the same if they refused, or ever disobeyed him as "that cussed
nigger there had done." At the end of an hour he was "dropped from the
gallows," his back being fearfully lacerated, his wrists deeply cut with the cord,
and his foot pierced through in three places. Beneath the beam there was a pool
of coagulated blood, whilst the oaken stake was dyed red with that which had
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streamed from his foot. He could not stand, much less walk, so they carried him
to his quarters, where the usual application of salt and water, and red pepper,
was made to his wounds, and he was left to die or to recover, as might be. It was
a month before he stirred from his plank, five months more elapsed ere he could
walk. Ever after he had a limp in his gait.
I made my escape from Thomas Stevens', about two years after this horrible
punishment had been inflicted on John Glasgow. I do not know whether the
husband and the wife ever met again. The last I know of John's history is, that in
1840, or thereabouts, the poor fellow was felling a white oak in the woods,
which in falling struck him on his right thigh, just above the knee, and broke it
in two. As he was thus rendered comparatively useless for field-work, Thomas
Stevens gave him to his son John, who kept him to shell corn off the cob.
Should this narrative by chance meet the eye of any person to whom John
Glasgow's name or the circumstances of his disappearance are familiar, and lead
to a discovery of the whereabouts of the poor fellow's English wife and
children, let such a
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one write forthwith, to the Secretary of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery
Society, who will place the parties in communication with such friends as may
be anxious to take steps in this distressing case. One of my chief regrets is that I
24.03.2006