From 1751 to 1840, over 2,300 runaway slave advertisements were published in newspapers in North Carolina. These have been collected, scanned, and transcribed here. Because slaves were so valuable, it was strongly to the owner's interest to be as detailed as possible in the advertisements seeking their return. Here, economic necessity drove the truth into the open.
The slave-holding interests worked hard to promote the image of the grateful docile slave. But even if many became resigned to their situation, a significant number did not. Here's evidence of that from the North Carolina Gazette, published July 17, 1777:
RUN away from the subscriber, on the 3rd Day of June, a Negro Man named DICK, about 5 Feet 8 Inches high, is a new Negro, and speaks very much broken, three of his Toes are cut off his right Foot, has a large Scar on his right Knee, is very much marked with his Country Marks over his Face and Body, and is supposed is about or below Newbern, as he has made three Attempts formerly, and put in Newbern Gaol.--Whoever delivers the said Negro to me on Great Contentney, in Debbs County, shall Three Pounds Reward, or Forty Shillings if deliver to Mr. David Thomason in Newbern.
EVERITT HOUSE.
One wonders if this man's toes were cut off as punishment for his three previous escape attempts -- it certainly would not be in the interest of the slave master to admit that even physical mutilation would not deter a man from escaping.
The euphemisms were strong by 1777. This ad uses "new negro" to meant someone recently forcibly brought from Africa by the slave trade.
Before the abolition of the slave trade in 1808, there are often references to "country marks" (ritual scarring) and filed teeth, features acquired in Africa. Consider this advertisement from 1807 source. Note how the degree of the person's ability to speak English is carefully described, again as a means towards capturing the individual:
RUN away from the subscriber'; s plantation near Webb'; s Ferry, Anson County, on the 21st instant, four likely African Negro men, three of which are of a yellow complexion marked on the face and body with their Country marks; the other a very black fellow, marked only on his body, and is named JACK-the other three named AKA, SAM and BOATSWAIN: They had on when they went away, checked shirts and white homespun trowsers [sic]: they speak no English. It is supposed they crossed the river Pedee, and are now on the East side. Whoever will deliver the said Negroes to the subscriber, or shall be generously rewarded and expences paid.
J. LANIER.
September 28th, 1807.
Part of the argument for slavery was that the slaves were better off in "civilized" America than in Africa. Obviously the affected people didn't agree. African origin ("African Negro", for example) was often noted in the earlier advertisements, for example the ability to speak an African language, in this ad from 1816
source:
FIVE DOLLARS REWARD
RAN AWAY from the subscriber, in Mecklenburg county, a Negro Boy named TOM, about 16 or 17 years old, with a large scar on his left arm, occasioned by a burn ; was born of African parents and can speak their language. Whoever will secure him in any Jail so that I get him shall receive the above reward.
JAMES YOUNG.
9th October.??? 92 3w
Injuries and scars are often reported as well as work skills, and, if present, the ability to read or write. Consider this, from 1825 (
source):
Fifty Dollars Reward.
RAN away from the subscriber in June last, his Negro Man DIMBO, an African born, but having been brought to America at an early period of his life, his nativity will hardly be discovered by his language. He is about 35 years of age, quite black, about 5 feet 7 or 8 inches high, has remarkable small ears and feet. It is reported that he has obtained a free pass and designs passing as a free man. I will give the above reward if taken out of the State and delivered to me at my plantation in Lenoir county near Kinston. or 25 dollars if taken in the State and delivered as above, or 20 dollars if secured in any Jail so that I get him again.
JOHN COBB.
Lenoir county, July 21. 76 3w
Right up to the end of slavery it was protected by law and by the constitution of the United States. There's a common thought that slavery would have just faded away and perhaps the Civil War could have been avoided had this been recognized at the time.
An extensive economic analysis of slavery, published in 1962 by the history Richard Evans, refutes this, concluding:
Thus it would appear that the slave industry did not exhibit characteristics of a nonviable industry about to wither and die under the impact of adverse economic forces, but rather gave every indication in its later years of being a strong and growing industry. (link).
And this we can see from the advertisements right up to the last years. Hence, from the November 5, 1860, Richmond
Daily Dispatch:
Seventy-Five Dollars Reward-I will pay $75 00 for the apprehension of my Negro Girl. Peggy, who absconded about three weeks ago. She is a low, thick set mulatto, with short curly hair, and is about sixteen years old. Her dress cannot be described, as she has been seen several times in this city since she left, and had on a different dress each time. E. L. Chinn.
Richmond, Oct. 25. 1860. oc 26--ts source>
Left the city Quarter, on Marshall street. near the jail, on Thursday last, a Negro Boy named Beverly, who was hired of Mr. H B Holmes, of Fredericksburg. I know of no reason for his absenting himself. He had a sore on the forefinger of his right hand, and was staying about the premises when he mysteriously disappeared.
The usual reward will be paid on returning him to me, or being secured so that I can get him again. R H Higgins, Overseer of the City Hands. oc 31--eod3t
In 1860, the last full year of union and slavery, the total wealth of the northern states has been estimated at (rounding off) $9.8 billion. (
source). The total wealth in the southern states was $6.3 billion, of which the value of slaves was just less than one-half, at $3.1 billion (again, rounding off). Mortgages bank loans, taxes -- all were based on the value of slaves.
War wrecked all this, and no more is this more apparent that in the runaway slave advertisements. As the military situation of the south deteriorated, the rewards for apprehension of runaways increased, commensurate with the falling Confederate dollar. Any sort of military movement, even of Confederate armies, led to the separation of slaves from their owners.
There are numerous notices published in the Richmond Dispatch stating that someone is believed to be working with the Confederate army, not as soldiers, but for pay as laborers, representing themselves to be free blacks.
The shear number of these types of notices suggests that the Confederate army, desperate for men to build forts, attend hospitals, drive wagons, and so forth, seems to have asked few questions of the colored persons who hired on with it.
Along those lines, here's an interesting advertisement, dated July 14, 1862:
--I will give the above reward for the apprehension of two negro men, Wesley and Ellyson. I expect that they have been pressed in some hospital as nurses. If such is the case, I will pay the reward if they are sent home. The men are grave diggers, and their services are very much needed. I forewarn all persons from harboring the above slaves.
John Redford,
Keeper of Oakwood Cemetery,
Oakwood Cemetery, July 14, 1862.
That terrible summer of 1862, when the war's battles were worse than had ever been seen on the American continent, one can well image how the services of gravediggers would be necessary for military hospitals. What a tale Wesley and Ellyson could have told.
Slaves freed themselves -- in the words of Frederick Douglass they "stole" themselves -- and this became more and more brazen as the war progressed. On March 13, 1865, the Richmond Daily Dispatch, which regularly published excerpts from northern newspapers, ran this item source:
Amazon, Captain Dillon, a valuable river vessel, arrived at Savannah, Georgia, on the 2d instant from Augusta, having run down the Savannah river through a network of rebel obstructions and torpedoes placed in the channel to prevent her escape. She was piloted by a runaway slave. Captain Dillon, becoming disgusted with rebel rule, determined to make his way to the Union lines, which, after surmounting, various obstacles, he finally succeeded in doing, bringing with him his steamer, his family, household furniture, two hundred bales of cotton and other valuable property.
Some allowance must be made for possible bias of the northern newspaper account, but the point remains that intelligent, willful human beings can only be held down so long.