At last it pleased God I sick did fall,
Yet I no favour did receive at all,
For I was forc'd to work while I could stand,
Or hold the hoe within my feeble hand.
Much hardship then indeed I did endure,
No dog was ever nursed so before,
More pity the poor negro slaves bestow'd,
Than my brutual and inhuman master would, [1]
Oft on my knees the Lord I did implore,
To let me see my native land once more,
For through his grace my life I would amend,
And be a comfort to my dearest friend.
Helpless and sick, and left alone,
I by myself did use to make my moan,
And think upon my former wicked ways,
That brought me to this wretched case.
The Lord who saw my grief and woe.
And my complaint, knew my contrite heart,
His gracious mercy did to me afford,
My health to me again it was restor'd,
It pleas'd the Lord to grant to me such grace,
That tho' I was in a barbarous place.
I serv'd the Lord in fervency and zeal,
By which much inward blessing I did feel. [2]
Now twelve years had pass'd thus away,
And but two more I had by law to stay,
When death did my cruel master call,
But that was no relief to me at all.
The widow would not the plantation hold,
So me and all therein was to be sold,
A planter who at James's Town did dwell.
Came down to view, and lik'd it very well.
He bought the negroes, who for life are slaves,
But no transported felons would he have,
So we were put like sheep into the fold,
Unto the best bidder for to be sold. [3]
NOTES
1, Information available from surviving slave narratives indicate that black and white servants made common cause whenever possible and rarely betrayed each other. Solomon Northup was betrayed by a white debtor, that being an exception, with Solomon enjoying the help of a white sailor—none of whom were truly free men in this period, but private naval conscripts.
2. Indicates he witnessed to the negroes.
3. This sometimes resulted in an extended term of service, particularly in the early period of the 1620s, when most transports were worked to death within five years doing forest clearance.
takimag.com/article/new_movie_same_old_skin_game_steve_sailer
The link above is to a review of the movie "Twelve Years a Slave," unfortunately at Taki's which is a slow loading website. The reviewer brings up the idea that Northrop and his white associate were playing the "skin game." The game being that the white guy fraudulently sells the black guy, the black guy escapes, and they skip town together, splitting the proceeds. If true it casts a quite different light on the story.
Hmmmm...That does tend to cast a different light on the story, doesn't it?
FYI: For a Hollywood version of the how the "skin game" was played see the movie of the same name, "The Skin Game (1971) starring James Garner and Lou Gossett Jr. (mentioned in Steve Sailer's article) imdb.com/title/tt0067763
One of the most notorious practitioners of the skin game (also known as "slave stealing") was Samuel "Wolfman" Mason (1739 -1803). Mason was also known for being the leader of a notorious gang of river pirates operating along the lower Ohio River. The river pirates depicted in "How the West Was Won" were no doubt based on Mason's band. Among Mason's associates were the Harpe brothers, another gang of bloodthirsty highway robbers, river pirates and slave stealers in early America. The way slave stealing worked back in the day was that you acquired a slave, sold him to a plantation owner and then helped the slave escape, absconding with both the money and the slave so you could sell the slave to another sucker, over and over again. Slaves cost a lot back then (From 1740-49 to 1800-09 slave prices more than tripled, rising from $125 to $381), so this was a real lucrative scam. Typically the slave stealer would con the slave into believing he was actually being transported north to freedom, and making a little money on the side. Problems often arose when the slave grew weary of the game and wanted to get it over with and cross over into the Free states. At that point a slave stealer of the temperament of "Wolfman" Mason would usually end the association by killing the slave. Hey, not all the slave stealers were happy-go-lucky con-artists like James Garner. You had to be careful in choosing your company if you engaged in that grift.