Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1859-03-24
Mistellaneons.
A Great American Slave Auc.
~ - tiOD.


were most forcibly and painfully illustrated
afew days ago, in the sale at public auc
tion of four hundred and .birty-six men, wo
men, and thildren, at the Race Course neal
Savannah, Georgia. They were the color
ed stock of Mr.. Pierce NJ. Butler, former
husband of Fanny Kemble Butler, of Phil
adelphia, and were sold to the higest bid
der. The negroes belonged to the old Ma
ior Buffers plantations, and none had evel
been sold before. They were brought to
the Savannah auction mart from two plan,
tations, the one a rice plantation near Da
rien in the state of Georgia, not far from
the great Okefonokee Swamp, and the 9th
er cotton plantation on the extreme nor
thern point of 81. Simon's Island, small
island in the Atlantic, cut off from Geor.
gia's main land by slender arm of the
sea. These plantations had been their
homes from infancy-there were their cab
ins, garden patches, and the graves of their
fathers and families. From there they
were torn to be scattered wide among new
associations and masters. Most of them
were genuine negroes, and not mulattoes,
and the great sale excited an unusual inter
est among slave buyers and slave breeders.
The N. Y. Tribune sent reporter to the
sale, who has given graphic and interest
ing account Of the men and women selling,
from which We quote as follows:
THE NEGRO SPECTATORS.
For several days before the sale, every
hotel in Savannah was crowded with negro
spectators from North and South Carroll
ma, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama and Louis
lana, who had been attracted hither by the
prospect of making good bargains. No
thing was heard for days, in the bar-rooms
and public rooms, but talk of the great
sale, criticisms of the business affairs of
Mr.. Butler and speculations as to the prob
able prices the stock would bring. The
office of Joseph Bryan, the negro broker
who had the management of the sale, was
thronged every day with eager inquiries in
search of information, and by some who
were anxious 10 buy, but were uncertain as
TO whether their securities would prove ac
ceptable. Little parties were made from
the various hotels every day to visit the
race course-distant some three miles from
the city-to make memoranda for guidance
on the day of sale. The buyers were gen.
orally of rough breed, slangy, profane
and bearisb, being for the most part from
the back river and swamp plantations,
where the elegancies of polite life are not
perhaps developed to their fullest extent.
In fact the humanities are sadly neglected
by the petty tyrauts of the lice fields that
border the great Dismal Swamp, their
knowledge of the luxuries of our best So
ciety compreheniing only revolvers and
kindred delicacies.
HOW THEY WERE TREATED IN SAVANNAH.
The negroes were brought to Savannah,
in small lots, as many at a time as could
be conveniently taken care of, the last of
them reaching the city the Friday before
the sale. They were consigned to the care
of Mr.. ]. Bryan, Auctioneer and Negro
Broker, who was to feed and keep them in
condition until disposed Of. Immediately
on their arrival they were taken to the Race
Course, and there euartered in the sheds
erected for the accommodation of the hor-
ses and carriages of gentlemen attending
the races.
In these sheds were the cbattels huddled
together on the floor, there being no sign
of bench or table. They eat and sleep on
the bare boards, their food being rice and
beans, with occasionally bit of bacon and
corn bread. Their huge bundles were scat
t,red over the floor, and thereon the slaves
sat or reclined, when not restless moving
about, or gathered into sorrowful groups,
discussing the chances for their future fate.
On the faces of all was an expression of
heavy grief: some appeared to be resigned
to the hard stroke of Fortune that had
torn them from their homes, and were sad
ly trying to make the best of it; some sat
brooding moodily over their sorrows, their
chins resting on their hands, their eyes
staring vacantly, and their bodies rocking
TO and fro, with restless motion that was
never stilled; few wept, the place was too
public and the drivers too near, though
some occasionly turned aside to give way
to few quiet tears. They were dressed
in every possible variety of uncouth and
fantastic garb, in every style and of every
imaginable color; the texture OF the gar
ments was in all cases coarse, most of the
men being clothed in the rough cloth that
is made expressly for the slaves. The dress
es assumed by ihe negro minstrels when
they give limitations of plantation character
are by no means exaggerated; they are, in
stead, weak and unable to come up to the
original.
There was every variety of hat with
every imaginable slouch; and there was
every cut and style of coat and pantaloons,
made with every conceivable ingenuitp of
mlsit, and tossed on with a general appea-
ance OF perfect looseness that is perfectly
except to say that South
ern negro always looks as if he could
shake his clothes off without taking bis
hands out of his pockets. The women
true to the feminine instinct, had made in
almost every case, some attempt at fiuerv
All wore gorgeous turbans, generally man
ufactured in an instant out of gay color
ed handkerchief by a sudden and graceful
twist of the fingers; though there was oc-
cssionally more elaborate turban, tur-
ban complex and mysterious, got up with
care and ornamented with few beads or
bright bits of ribbon. Their dresses were
mostly coarse stuff, though there were some
OF gaudy callcoes; few had earrings, and
one possessed the treasure of a string of
yellow and blue beads. The l;ttle cb;I5r 5ren