Ohio History Journal

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DOWN SOUTH BEFORE THE WAR

DOWN SOUTH BEFORE THE WAR.

 

RECORD OF A RAMBLE TO NEW ORLEANS IN 1858.

ON the second day of December, 1857, in company with

my friend and fellow-student, Alexis E. Holcombe, of Ra-

venna, Ohio, I started on an unpremeditated journey

through Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana.

A tolerably complete diary kept during the six months of

our sojourn in the South furnishes the material of the fol-

lowing narrative:

We set out from Lebanon, Ohio, by stage-coach for Cin-

cinnati, from which city we went on the steamer Bostona

to Maysville, Kentucky. From Maysville we proceeded

to Flemingsburg, and thence to Poplar Plains, tarrying

a few days in each of the three towns. Continuing our

trip to Mount Sterling, which we reached December 23,

we put up at the Ashton House, a very pleasant hotel,

where we remained until January 5, 1858. On Christmas

day the streets of Mount Sterling were thronged with

colored folks, dressed in their Sunday apparel, and bent

on pleasure. We were told that it had long been the

custom in Kentucky to grant the slaves absolute freedom

from duty on Christmas, and, indeed, to allow them large

liberty during the entire Holiday week.

By ten o'clock on New Year's morning the town was

overflowing with a much greater multitude than was

seen on Christmas. White and black; male and female;

men, women, children of all ranks and conditions, in

wheeled vehicles, on horseback, on foot,---hundreds came

pouring in from every direction. Owner and owned flock-

ed from various parts of the county to readjust their

property relations for the ensuing year. It was the day

set apart for slave-holders to sell, buy, let and hire human

chattels. And the slaves were permitted to exercise a

limited privilege of choosing new homes and masters.

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