HOW DID UNCLE JOE GET HOME?
He was born a slave on a farm near Boonville, Missouri, in 1845 if his claim of being 92 years old in the summer of 1937, is correct.
He is somewhat bent and withered and his appearance of great age is accentuated by white patriarchial whiskers below the chin, while his cheeks are clean shaven; a style much in vogue during the life time of Horace Greeley.
His home a little, four rooms frame cottage, with its tiny front porch set close against the picket fence enclosing the lot, mirrors somewhat the deterioration age has placed upon its occupant. Both house and fence are weather beaten, gray from age and lack of paint.
"Could you and would you tell about slavery days?" he was asked.
"Yes Ma'am," he courteously and smiling replied, the smile revealing big, strong teeth. "Yes, indeed. Would you all step in the house and set? I am so happy to have company."
He selected the dining room, which is also the comfortably furnished living room, as the place to "set and talk". In this room is an oak dining table, chairs and a china closet, through the glass doors of which may be seen attractively decorated dishes, some of them of very old pattern There is also an old fashioned combination desk and bookcase, and a chest of drawers. The windows are adorned with curtains and drapes of good quality.
The clean condition of the interior was a revelation of a 92 year old Negro man's desire and ability to keep house, and keep it clean. He lives alone, his wife having died many years ago.
There is in the appearance of this ancient Negro with shoulders now bowed; the dark brown skin, extending across the bald head; the large nose; immense teeth; shaven cheeks below which a mat of white whiskers encircle the throat, like the ruff on a condor's neck; there is in his appearance that which stamps him at once as the living bridge between the present day's civilization and a dim past; the knowledge of which exists today in the memories of but few persons.
As he talked, strange sights, scenes and. cultures were told, sometimes with words that have changed much in meaning.
As his mind pictured the scenes of those old days, this primitive blending of both Indian and Negro races, at times unconsciously reverted to they primitive sing song recitative chant of his ancestors, particularly when narrating his outstanding pleasant memories.
This is his story:
"Old man Higgerson was my master. We lived on a farm and dere was a big family of us. I is the only one left. The farm laid just below the Lamine and Missouri Rivers, and I can't tell exactly where it was. Everybody called us 'free niggahs' -- cause Higgsrson slaves was treated so good. Yes, ma'am, My mammy lived to be 80 years old - and didn't have a gray hair in her haid. She was part Black Hawk Indian, - and I show it in me too."
Then as his thoughts raced back to slavery days, the pictures of youth crowded thick and fast, and he burst forth into a half chanted description of the panorama of his memories. "I've seen hundreds of Indians pass thru the country, on foot. Boss man let'em have a shack overnight. Next mawnin dey set out on foot, and take up de road, one behind the othar. Yes, suh! Just wrapped in a blanket one behind the othar. Winter and summer, and barefoot too!"
Then he told of game and game ways.
"Yes suh: I done seen wild deer hop ovar fences, and hundreds of wild turkeys. We used to build turkey pens and dig a trench, put feed in dere and covar it ovar wid bresh and de turkeys would come to feed, and we would trap'em. Yes, ma'am, an I done seen 100 to 150 wild turkeys in a flock I has dat: Lots of wild pigeons, too. I has seen a thousand geese flyin' over in the early mornin'. Then I've trapped quail too, in rail pens, built ten feet square. Yes, suh!
"But listen! -- slaves couldn't shoot; was a law agin it in slaves times; no slave could own or shoot a gun. We couldn't shoot game. An' dat come dis way. President Jackson say, 'Keep books and guns outa slaves hands if you want to keep 'em slaves'."
Joe Higgerson chuckled a little with a glint of humor in his eyes and changed the subject.
"Everybody made whiskey in dem days, had little 'stilleries all over the country, made apple and peach brandy. Good too. One day I was sent to a neighbors for brandy. I took a little taste and walked on. Den I took anoder little taste, and walked on. Den I took anoder little taste and sot down de jug. Den I took anoder little taste, and so on and so on. Pretty soon I looked up, and I nevar did know how I got to whar I'se gwinter. Nobody ever say anything about it or tell me nuffin! I guess somebody carry me whir I'se gwinter."
He was asked if he ever remembered seeing slaves sold at Boonville.
"Yes, ma'am!" he exlaimed. "Why down at Boonville, woman and a baby was put up to be sold, and de buyer he want de woman, but he don't want de baby, so they separated 'em, and was gettin' ready to put 'em on de boat for Noo Orleans, and ship 'em down de river, and de woman she ran back to kiss de baby goodbye, and de tradar picked up a whip and cracked it and shouts, "A bellerin cow will soon forget its calf!. She was sold down de river and navar saw de baby again. Now dat was sad". He paused and then resumed.
"One tradar, name of Henry Moore, he used to handcuff all the niggahs together till time to put 'em on de boat for Noo Orleans. Dey always carried whips and they'd crack dem to see how far de darkies could jump. Yes, Suh!! Yes, Suh!!! Deed they did!!!
This reminiscence tickled him mightily and he laughed heartily at thoughts of the capers the negroes cut when the whip cracked.
"An I remembers one boat load. Boat load got as far as Cairo, Illinois, and lots of de darkies jumped overboard and was drowned."
"Were the overseers on the plantations Negroes or whites?"
"Overseahs, white," Higgerson replied; "Overseahs white." A darky was the niggah driver. Darkies didn't ever get to go to the big house where the planter lived. De niggah driver reported to the ovahseah, and the ovahseah reported to the Boss."
"Now this is the way with me," Higgerson continued. "My father, who was also my boss, he kept a store, and I went to de store to take care of de children, cause de Boss done send for me. Well, one time when the wah was on, some Federal soldiers come and done scared me so bad I forgot all about de chile and run home, and de soldiers burned de bridge, you had to cross befo' you got to de store. So after dat de ole man run a boat across."
Hoping to get some idea of how Christmas was celebrated among the Negroes on the farms and plantations the aged man was asked what he remembered of Christmas, in slavery times.
"One Christmas I never goin' to forget", he replied.
"Jee before Christmas lots of people came to de store to buy and de groun' was all covered wid snow. An de man what run de store was getting ready to close up, cause it was getting dark, and close at dark a man come and wanted in and de store keeper wouldn't let him in. An it got later and later, an by an by Joseph, dats me, was sent to de store to find why de storekeeper ain't come home yet and Joseph went to de store, and looked in and saw de old man on his back! his throat cut wid de blood runnin' all over de floor and $1,400 dey knowed he had'-- gone. Dere was whiskey and blood runnin' all over de floor. Whiskey was cheap dem days; good whiskey, too."
"When they set the niggahs free, the boss men come out and read de papers to 'em sayin' dey was free. And I went to Boonville and joined de Union Army, November 23, 1863, I served in de 25th Corps, Second Division under General Whitsell. I was in de last battle of de war at Palmetto Ranch, Texas, on de Rio Grande, just 36 miles from de Gulf. When I was discharged from de army to go home, I thought - why I have no home, where shall I go? Den I decided to go back to Boonville. All my family was scattered."
"But I was lucky. Someone had started to build a shack, and had not finished it. I got permission to finish it and picked up building material here and dere, and made it into a home. I never been without a home since. My wife and I lived together 61 years. She is gone now,"
(Written by Geo. K. Bartlett, Kansas City from field copy of Kathleen Williams).
WPA Slave Narrative Project, Missouri Narratives, Volume 10
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html
Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1938 contains more than 2,300 first-person accounts of slavery and 500 black-and-white photographs of former slaves. These narratives were collected in the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and assembled and microfilmed in 1941 as the seventeen-volume Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves. This online collection is a joint presentation of the Manuscript and Prints and Photographs Divisions of the Library of Congress and includes more than 200 photographs from the Prints and Photographs Division that are now made available to the public for the first time. Born in Slavery was made possible by a major gift from the Citigroup Foundation.
COLLECTION
Federal Writer's Project, United States Work Projects Administration (USWPA);
Manuscript Division, Library of Congress
According to the narrative, Joseph Higgerson was born in 1845 on a farm near the mouth of the Lamine and the Missouri rivers. The Booneville to Arrow Rock Road runs through the farm. Two and a half miles south of the farm, the road crossed of the Lamine River or Turley Bridge.
September 16, 1861, Monday
The Death Of Henry G. Herndon [1]
Major Eppstein's Boonville Battalion U. S. Reserve Corps was ordered by Colonel Worthington to
take possession of and guard the bridge across the Lamine River, on the road from Boonville to
Arrow Rock. Before their arrival at the bridge, they heard the firing of several minnie guns
behind them, which were intended to warn the local Confederate forces of the approach of Major Eppstein's men.
They reached the bridge during the night, and were fired upon from the opposite side of the river by the
state troops who were confederates, who appeared to have taken possession of the bridge.
Major Eppstein returned the fire and the state troops soon retreated and left Major Eppstein's
troops in possession of the bridge.
Mortally wounded during the engagement of that night was a young man named Henry G. Herndon, who lived in Lamine Township, in Cooper County. He was taken to the house of Mr. William Higgerson, where he soon afterwards expired. Henry G. Herndon, the son of Benjamin and Susan Herndon was 10 years old at the time of his death. He was buried in the Herndon Family Cemetery, located about one mile from Lamine, Missouri.
[1] Thoma, J. F. Ed.; Herndon Family Cemetery; MoCooper GenWeb: http://www.rootsweb.com/~mocooper/index.html.
September 19, 1861, Wednesday
The Battle That Wasn't
On board the steamboats War Eagle and
Iatan were the troops of the Twenty-second and Eighteenth Indiana under the command
of Lieutenant-Colonel John A. Hendricks, of the Twenty-Second Regiment Indiana Infantry. On board
the White Cloud and Des
Moines were the men of the
Twenty-Sixth Regiment Indiana Infantry under the command of Colonel William H.
Wheatley. The command of Lieutenant-Colonel Hendricks
was Glasgow and Cambridge; while the command of Colonel Wheatley was destined for Lexington,
Missouri. The towns of Arrow Rock
and Saline were passed with no incident. Late in the evening the steamboats tied up about five miles below
Glasgow. The Union troops were sent to Glasgow to break up a Confederate recruitment and training camp led by
Captain Poindexter. Three companies were dispatched from the War Eagle and
three from the steamboat Iatan under the command of Major Gordon Tanner of
the Twenty-Second Regiment Indiana Infantry to go as a scouting party to Glasgow.
At the same time unknown to Lieutenant-Colonel Hendricks, Colonel Wheatley
sent out a picket guard of sixty men. It was a natural consequence that the two parties should meet in
the woods a short distance from where the boats had landed. Mistaking each other for the enemy they
commenced firing for some ten of fifteen minutes. The firing was
incessant. Before they discovered their mistake,
three troops of the Eighteenth and one of the Twenty-second were killed and seven or eight wounded. Among the
severely wounded was Major Gordon Tanner who was not expected to survive his wounds.
When the firing started the excitement and confusion onboard the boats was intense. After a while the scouting party returned bring in their dead and wounded and the mistake was uncovered. Later the same evening the picket guard hailed some party and received no answer fired and gun. Immediately the men under the command of Colonel Wheatley opened fire in the direction of the supposed enemy. Later it was thought advisable to go down to the river a short distance and lay up for the night. The boats steamed down to the town of Saline where the tied up.
The next morning of September 20th the steamboats were returned to
Boonville where the story was soon learned. Nancy nee' Chapman Jones wrote this story to her daughter Mary
Levinia nee' Jones McCarthy in San Antonio, Texas:
They
met and fought, until one party retreated to the boat, they returned to
Boonville and said they had met the enemy, and routed them, and so great
was their fright they immediately sent a company to the Lamine, and burned
the bridge, fearing an attack. When the other boats returned bringing their killed and wounded, they found out
they had been fighting each other, they seem to be working out their own
destruction
.
This story leaves a strong impression of the fear that must have been felt by the Union forces after their defeat at Lexington, Missouri. And it explains the adamancy of Colonel William H. Worthington in having the Lamine River Bridge burned; which he did on Saturday
September 21, 1861, Saturday
The Lamine River Bridge Is Burned
Colonel William H. Worthington ordered Major Eppstein to take his command with him and burn the Lamine River bridge located on the Boonville to Arrow Rock road. It having been reported that General Price's army was marching towards Boonville from that direction, and would probably cross the Lamine at this point. Major Eppstein endeavored to dissuade him from this purpose by telling him that this would only delay Price a single day, as he could cross a short distance above; but Colonel Worthington replied that it must be done, as he deemed it to be a military necessity. So the bridge was burned according to his order. This proved to be a false alarm, as Price was not on his way to Boonville, and did not attempt to march in that direction.
Worthington, perhaps not believing that the home guards would fulfill the assignment given to them, ordered the right flank of the Fifth Regiment Iowa Infantry to relieve Eppstein. The Fifth arrived in time to report the bridge had already been burnt by Eppstein's forces. The regimental records report the bridge as having being burnt on September 20, 1861
On the same day, the Ninth Regiment Missouri Infantry arrived at Boonville. While the Lamine River railroad bridge at Otterville, Missouri was reinforced with the arrival of Bissell's Engineer Regiment of the West.
Joseph W. and Nancy I. (Zacary) Higgerson, originally of Virginia. Both came out to Kentucky early in life, and in 1837, moved to Missouri and improved their farm in Cooper County. Records indicate that in 1860 J. W. Higgerson owned one slave, Joseph Higgerson.
In the narrative, Joseph Higgerson tells of the death of J. W. Higgerson who was engaged in merchandising at Turley's bridge on the Lamine. J. W. Higgerson was murdered and robbed on Christmas morning, 1861, a day above all others when peace on earth and good will among men should reign supreme. He was called out of his house to the store by several desperados on the pretence of purchasing some article in the store, and was shot down and robbed of several hundred dollars. The death of J. W. Higgerson came just 3 months after the burning of the Lamine bridge and the death of Henry Herndon and the Second Battle of Boonville. No known newspaper articles record the death of J.W. Higgerson because General Ulysses Grant had just had all the local newspaper presses dismantled and shipped to Jefferson City shortly before the incident.
Joseph Higgerson served in Company A of the 62nd United States Colored Troops. This regiment was instrumental in the founding of Lincoln University of Jefferson City, Missouri. If Mr. Higgerson's dates are correct, "And I went to Boonville and joined de Union Army, November 23, 1863" then he was probably 18 years old and was mustered into the 1st Regiment Missouri Colored Infantry which later became the 62nd USCT. The Action at Palmetto Ranch May 12-13, 1865 was one of the last battles of the Civil War and one of the last battles of his regiment. He probably served throughout the life of that regiment. When he was mustered out on March 31, 1866, he would have been about 21 years old.
1st REGIMENT MO COLORED INFANTRY.
Organized at Benton Barracks, Mo., December 7-14, 1863. Attached to District of St. Louis, Mo., to January, 1864. Ordered to Port Hudson, La. Designation changed to 62nd Regiment United States Colored Troops March 11, 1864
62nd REGIMENT USC INFANTRY.
Organized March 11, 1864, from 1st Missouri Colored Infantry. Attached to District of St. Louis, Dept. of Missouri, to March, 1864. District of Baton Rouge, La., Dept. of the Gulf, to June, 1864. Provisional Brigade, District of Morganza, Dept. of the Gulf, to September, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, United States Colored Troops, District of Morganza, Dept. of the Gulf, to September, 1864. Port Hudson, La., Dept. of the Gulf, to September, 1864. Brazos Santiago, Texas, to October, 1864. 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, United States Colored Troops, Dept. of the Gulf, to December, 1864. Brazos Santiago, Texas, to June, 1865. Dept. of Texas to March, 1866.
SERVICE.--Ordered to Baton Rouge, La., March 23, 1864, and duty there till June. Ordered to Morganza, La., and duty there till September. Expedition from Morganza to Bayou Sara September 6-7. Ordered to Brazos Santiago, Texas, September, and duty there till May, 1865. Expedition from Brazos Santiago May 11-14. Action at Palmetto Ranch May 12-13, 1865. White's Ranch May 13. Last action of the war. Duty at various points in Texas till March, 1866. Ordered to St. Louis via New Orleans, La. Mustered out March 31, 1866.
Source of Data: "A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, Volume III" by Frederick H. Dyer, c1908, p.1733
December 12, 1863, Saturday
Recruiting Soldiers Of African American Descent in Boonville (2)
Toward the latter part of the war, Negro soldiers were actively recruited
throughout the county. Nancy Jones in one of her letters notes this event and the effect on their lives:
A recruiting office was opened in Boonville for soldiers of "African descent"; and Speed, Ike, and Willie(1), enlisted, Aaron would not go. Speed and Will cried like children when they left, I suppose Sally, Caroline and Ann will not leave before spring. Three hundred negroes have been sent from Boonville to St. Louis, and the office is still open and as Sally says the negroes keep "roling". Ellis left home some time ago, and was employed as teamster, he returned a few days since quite sick, minus the money he took with him, but wiser if not better than when he left home. All but two of Mrs. [Maria] Muir's negro men have left her.
(1) Speed, Ike, Willie, Aaron, Ann, Sally, Caroline, and Ellis were all at
one time, slaves owned by Caleb Jones.
(2) Thoma, J. F. Ed.;
MoCooper GenWeb: