Twelve Years a Slave - Enhanced Edition

by Solomon Northup

  3. Joan D. Hedrick, Harriet Beecher Stowe (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), 118.

  4. Bibliographic assistance provided through personal correspondence from librarian David Fiske, Ballston Spa, NY, to Sue Eakin, Bunkie, LA, June 7, 2003; Solomon Northup, A Freeman in Bondage or Twelve Years a Slave (Philadelphia: Columbian Publishing Company, 1890); and Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave, eds., Sue Eakin and Joseph Logsdon. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1968).

  5. In addition to Twelve Years a Slave, Wilson also penned The Life of Jane McCrea, with an Account of Burgoyne’s Expedition of 1777 (New York, 1853); Henrietta Robinson: The Veiled Murderess (Auburn, NY, 1855); A Narrative of Nelson Lee, a Captive Among the Comanches (1859); and is reputed to be the author of Life in Whitehall: a Tale of Ship-Fever Times (Auburn, 1850).

  6. Personal correspondence from Carol Senaca, Historical Society of Whitehall, NY, to Sue Eakin, Bunkie, LA, September 11, 2003; phone conversation of Carol Senaca with Sue Eakin, March 13, 2004.

  7. Clarence E. Holden, “Local History Sketches,” Whitehall Democrat, February n.d., 1852.

  8. Ibid., 1870.

  Chapter Notes And Historical Context

  Composed by Sue Eakin

  Chapter One

  1. Though Solomon Northup was a freeman in New York, one should not assume he enjoyed all of “the blessings of liberty” in his native state. In reality, as a free man of color and citizen of New York, he lacked the rights provided whites. Documentation for this assertion includes the following: “Although the first steps toward equality had been taken more than twenty years earlier [than 1821], the Negro had, and for many decades continued to have, inferior status socially, politically, and economically” [See Ellis et al., 225].

  Such policies did not change even amid the intense hostility against slavery in the 1850s or even later. According to these authors:

  [t]he Negro population suffered much inequality both within and outside the law. The Constitution of 1822 discriminated against free Negroes by requiring them to meet a property qualification higher than that required by white voters. Although the property qualification for whites was abolished in 1826, that for the free Negroes was retained. On three occasions, 1846, 1860, and 1867, the public refused to approve a constitutional amendment permitting equal suffrage for Negroes. It required the Fifteenth Amendment to eliminate the property qualification imposed on Negroes. In addition to legal inequities, the Negroes met the usual round of discrimination and lack of opportunity. The Irish immigrants in particular fought desperately for the jobs as manual laborers, waiters, and domestic servants which previously had offered Negroes their best opportunities for employment. [See Ellis et al., 281]

  In the Bayou Boeuf plantation area of Louisiana where Solomon Northup lived twelve years as a slave, the population of African Americans in the total population was around eight blacks to ten whites; blacks in the New York population in 1855 comprised 1.3% [See Eakin, “The Plantation System in the Lower Red River Valley,” 21]. A booklet, A Heritage Uncovered: The Black Experience in Upstate New York, 1800-1825, published by the Chemung County Historical Society in 1988, provides insights into the lives of three small towns in New York, and specifically something of the lifestyle of Solomon and Anne Northup in Saratoga Springs:

  Solomon Northup, perhaps the best known of Saratoga’s antebellum year-round residents, and his wife, Anne, illustrate the employment options available to early nineteenth century black Saratogians. First arriving in Saratoga Springs in 1834, Northup generally worked summers as a hack driver for Washington Hall, a local boarding house, and winters as a violinist. He supplemented his income with a brief stint as a railroad laborer for the Troy and Saratoga line while it was under construction and at various odd jobs at the United States Hotel. Anne found regular employment as a cook. [See Armstead, Horne, & Sorin, 28]

  While Solomon’s wife regularly left their home at the end of the season for the Saratoga Springs resort business, Solomon faced each “off season” without a job and with the uncertainty of finding work until the new resort season opened. Menial jobs of one kind or another were his only choice. As for the violin or fiddle affording means for regular employment, engagements depended upon dances or other social occasions in which the fiddler was contracted, and this was sporadic, not dependable, sustained income. Regarding the “off season,” Solomon states, “Anne, as was her usual custom had gone over to Sandy Hill, a distance of some twenty miles, to take charge of the culinary department at Sherill’s Coffee House, during the session of the court” [See Northup, 28]. Anne had a job as a cook, the same kind of job she held at the United States Hotel; her husband did not have that security.

  2. The reference, of course, is to Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, published on March 20, 1852, less than a year before Twelve Years a Slave. The contract with the publisher gave Stowe 10-percent of sales, which resulted in about $10,000 in royalties in the first three months of publication—“‘the largest sum of money ever received by any author, either American or European, from the sale of a single work in so short a time,’’ the press noted” [See Hedrick, 223].

  On April 10, 1853, about the time Solomon’s ghost writer, David Wilson, began work on Twelve Years a Slave, Stowe sailed for England and “made her triumphant tour of Great Britain, where sales of Uncle Tom’s Cabin were more than triple the phenomenal figures of the United States, reaching a million and a half in the first year” [See Headrick, 233].

  A contemporary review of Twelve Years A Slave from 1853 compares the two books:

  THE NARRATIVE OF SOLOMON NORTHUP. READ WHAT THE REVIEWERS SAY. Next to ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin,’ the extraordinary Narrative of Solomon Northup is the most remarkable book that was ever issued from the American Press. Indeed, it is a more extraordinary work than that because it is only a simple unvarnished tale of the experience of an American freeman of the ‘blessings’ of Slavery, while Ms. Stowe’s Uncle Tom is only an ingenious and powerfully wrought novel . . .” [See “Narrative of Solomon . . .”]

  3. The declaration by Solomon Northup that this is his truthful story of his slave experience on Bayou Boeuf is meant to establish that Solomon vouches for every observation. However, it is important to note that ghost writer David Wilson interviewed Solomon, and portions of the story may have been embellished with his own views. (There were other contributors too, including that of Attorney Henry Northup.) The basic facts of Solomon’s journey to Louisiana and his movement through the Bayou Boeuf plantation country during his twelve years as a slave have been validated and provide the framework on which the story is based. Names of people and places are unquestionable. Some of the events said to have transpired, however, are open to question. Some errors noted may have resulted from the speed with which this book was written and published, and incorrect names may have been supplied to David Wilson, or he may have simply improvised.

  Wilson accomplished the impossible: completing the book and seeing it published within a little over three-months’ time. Attorney Henry Northup spurred him on and gave all the assistance he could. Attorney Northup’s goal was to see the book published as quickly as possible while newspapers were giving wide coverage to the ordeal of Solomon and his rescue. The attorney correctly figured that information from the forthcoming book would reach readers who could and would identify the kidnappers [See all Wyckoff documents. Edith Wyckoff was a direct descendant of Henry Northup.].

  4. With the indirect reference to Uncle Tom’s Cabin by noting “works of fiction,” ghost writer David Wilson emphasizes his attempt to establish Northup’s book as a firsthand account of slavery and to differentiate it from the famous novel.

  That Northup and Wilson were successful in persuading many news editors that Northup was providing an accurate firsthand account is shown in such articles as this one:

  From the Union Gasette.

  Northup’s Kidnappers.

  Solomon Northup has suffered twelve years of Slaver
y through the agency of these men. He was born free as they, and with a better heart. He resided in Washington county at the time he was stolen, and were it not tha the left warm and influential friends behind him, his subjugation to the Slave-whip would have been lifelong.

  As it was he spent twelve years under the hands of Southern task-masters. How he was finally released is a familiar story and need not be repeated. And now that the men who robbed him of twelve years of a freeman’s life are caught, what punishment can any one, who will for a moment imagine himself the wronged, deem too great! Kidnapping, like Murder, ‘hath miraculous organs.’ So many years have elapsed since Northup was sold into Slavery that difficulty was apprehended in proving the guilt of Merrill and Russell—but these apprehensions are dispelled. Testimony of the most unimpeachable character is at hand.

  In 1841, when Northup says, in his narrative, that he was beguiled to Washington by Merrill and Russell, Thaddeus St. John, Esq. of Fulton county saw them with a colored man at Baltimore and in Washington. Mr. St. John not only suspected their design, but intimated his suspicions to Russell.

  On his return from Washington Mr. St. John met these men again in the car without the colored man. Mr. St. John is a gentleman of the highest intelligence and character. [See Albany Evening Journal, Feb. 15, 1855; Feb 22, 1855]

  With the support and contribution of Henry Northup, a passionate abolitionist who had gone on a risky 5,000 mile journey to Louisiana and met with Avoyelles Parish officials, Wilson had all of the ingredients for a successful telling of a remarkable story. The time was right for Twelve Years a Slave, with abolitionists kindling passions in people hungry for such a book, as the North-South controversy continued to intensify.

  The success of both books owed a great deal to the hostile debate over the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and the later increasingly furious controversy over the status of Kansas: free or slave. Stowe’s biographer, Joan D. Hedrick, explains:

  Passed by Congress and signed by President Fillmore in September 1850, the Fugitive Slave Law had, as Henry Ward Beecher observed, provisions odious enough ‘to render an infamous thing consistently infamous throughout.’ Section Five commanded citizens ‘to aid and assist in the prompt and efficient execution of the law, whenever their services may be required.’ Under Section Seven, persons who gave shelter, food, or assistance to an escaping slave were liable for a fine of $1000 and six months in prison. The Fugitive Slave Law effectively abrogated individual rights such as habeas corpus and the right of trial by jury and provided what abolitionists called bribes to commissioners by awarding them $10 for every alleged fugitive they remanded to slavery, but only $5 for everyone they determined to be free. [See Hedrick, 203]

  The debate over Kansas worsened the dispute. In the heat of the North-South arguments, Twelve Years a Slave appearing as a firsthand account served in part to confirm Stowe’s narrative and added fuel to the flames between the sections.

  The close association of Twelve Years a Slave with Uncle Tom’s Cabin was quickly and often noted in New York newspaper accounts. In The New York Daily Times: “[Northup’s] nine years that he was in the hands of Epps, was of a character nearly approaching that described by Mrs. Stowe, as the condition of ‘Uncle Tom’ while in that region” [See New York Daily Times, January 20, 1853]. In the Albany Evening Journal: “Literary News, The success of ‘Uncle Tom’ was the incitement to a great many trashy novels on the same subject.

  But none have equaled it in pathos and interest. The true narrative of ‘Sol. Northup’ came nearest to the fiction of ‘Uncle Tom.’ . . . [See “Literary News,” June 6, 1856]. In the Salem Press:

  ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’—No. 2: The rescue of Solomon Northup, a Free Man who was Kidnapped and sold into Slavery, of which he had TWELVE YEARS experience, has given the public another view of the practical workings of that peculiar Institution. NORTHUP’S NARRATIVE is ‘UNCLE TOM’S CABIN’ without its Romance . . . The book, though less exciting than that of Mrs. Stowe, is deeply interesting, and will be extensively read . . . [See “Uncle Tom’s Cabin—No. 2,” July 26, 1853]

  5. Mintus Northup, father of Solomon, was emancipated not once but twice. The first came in 1797 with the will of Captain Henry Northup. Mintus Northup is the subject of an interesting paragraph dealing with his second emancipation in a book published by the Vermont Historical Society:

  On the 25th of April [1822] in the same year, Mintus Northup of the town of Fort Edward, being duly sworn, said that he had always understood and verily believed that he was born in the town of North Kingston, in the State of Rhode Island, and that he ‘was borned free,’ and at that time he was of the age of forty-five years and eight months, and that since he had arrived at the age of twenty years he had acted and continued as a free man. The affidavit was sworn to before Timothy N. Allen, a justice of the peace; and Timothy Eddy made oath that he had been acquainted with Mintus Northup for twenty years and upwards, and verily believes that during all that time the said Mintus was always considered a free man; and John Baker, one of the judges of the court, certifies that this proof is satisfactory to him, and that he is of the opinion that Mintus Northup is free according to the laws of the State of New York . . . [See Bascom, 162]

  Mintus Northup (1791-1826) worked for various people in New York including Henry B. Northup’s half-brother, Clark Northup, who lived in Granville, New York. Family genealogist Edith Wyckoff, a great-granddaughter of Henry B. Northup, who rescued Solomon from slavery, wrote:

  In 1909 John Henry wrote a letter to my grandmother [Edith Carman Hay] about Solomon and his father. ‘Mintus’ said John Henry ‘lived a mile or two east of Fort Edward.’ John Henry said that when he was a boy ‘Mintus used to come to Sandy Hill and make little beds in the garden for each of us children . . .’ Mintus and his son were well known to the Northups of New York, especially Henry B. (the attorney who rescued Solomon). [See Wyckoff, Autobiography of a Family, 121]

  6. Henry B. Northup (1805-1877), one in a long line of Henry Northups, was the seventh child of John Holmes Northup of Hebron, New York. At sixteen Henry left the farm to sail to New England where he hoped “to seek a berth on a whaling boat.” After a rather tempestuous adolescence, young Henry B. Northup, supported by his father, prepared himself to become a lawyer. He graduated from Middlebury College in 1829 and studied law in the office of Henry C. Martindale. As the protégé of Martindale, he became district attorney. Later he was named as a judge in the court of common pleas. He became a congressman and a leader among Whig politicians in the state. His law office stands on Center Street, Hudson Falls, New York. Wyckoff states the history of Henry B. from that time:

  For six years from 1837-1843, Henry B. was clerk of the board of supervisors of Washington County, New York. In 1838 he received a master of arts degree from Middlebury and in 1839 became counselor of the New York State Supreme Court. Five years later, in 1844, he was made counselor of the New York Court of Chancery and in 1853 attorney and counselor of the United States Supreme Court. From 1847 to 1851 he was a district attorney and in 1856 was elected to the New York State Assembly. Henry B. and Electa had seven children. The oldest, Julia, was born in 1832 . . . the youngest, Edward, born in 1844. [See Wyckoff, Autobiography . . ., 57]

  Whether or not Mintus was the son of a white Northup cannot be ascertained, but the relationship among the black and white Northups lasted for generations. Wyckoff said that she did not know who his father was. Solomon is described as a “griffe,” defined by Webster’s 3rd New International Dictionary (1964) as “the offspring of a negro and a mulatto: a person of 3/4 Negro and 1/4 white blood.” Wyckoff used extensive family records of her family to write a book about the Northups and provide a genealogical chart. Her Autobiography of an American Family states that the first Northup, Stephen (ca. 1620), came to America with Roger Williams when he was returning from England where he had gone to get the first charter for the Providence plantations. Wyckoff continues:

  After Stephen had been in R
hode Island for 11 years, he was granted 25 acres at a town meeting. This probably was not his first grant, for the record says that in 1654 he had already sold 60 acres, but it is the first time his name appears in a record as a land owner . . . He built a house close by the Moshassuck River. With all the other houses in the town, it was destroyed during King Philip’s War . . . In time he sold his land near Providence and moved to Kingstown, Rhode Island . . . The colony of Connecticut claimed jurisdiction over Narragansett country in which Stephen lived, ordered him to appear in court in Connecticut. Stephen said that if the government of Rhode Island ordered him to go to Connecticut he would, but he refused to accept any orders from Connecticut. [See Wyckoff, Autobiography, xvii]

  7. There has been some question raised about where Solomon was born. Mabel Jones, Town Historian, Minerva, New York, wrote a letter to the Editor of the Washington Post-Star on May 23, 1984, p. 5:

  From reading the original book, and the comments on the second edition, I gathered these facts: Solomon Northup later in life reported that he was born in Minerva in 1808. There was no town by that name until 1817 when it was separated from Schroon, but a settlement was begun here in 1800 which was called Dominick Settlement because it was in Dominick Patent. Thanks to Louise Schroon, I have the 1810 Census of Schroon and from later records am able to pick out the people who lived in Dominick Settlement in that year, as they are all listed together. There is no Northup family on the list nor any Negro family. The population at the time was 137. It may be that the Northup family had by that time moved on to Granville. [See Wells to Eakin]

  8. Clark Northup was the half-brother of attorney Henry Northup, as shown in the genealogical chart in Wyckoff’s Autobiography of an American Family [See Wyckoff, Autobiography . . . chart].