Transcribed Newspaper Articles--Augusta County:
African-Americans/Race Relations

Image Source: Porte Crayon, Virginia Illustrated: Containing a Visit to the Virginia Canaan and The Adventures of Porte Crayon and His Cousins (New York: Harper, 1871): 109.

• The Spectator, February 1, 1859, p. 2, c. 2: "Bold Operation." Three African-American men tried to rob Evans's store, but he apprehended them.

• The Vindicator, March 26, 1859, p. 1, c. 5: "Revival of Know Nothingism." Mocks a conversation between two blacks supposedly lamenting the importation of blacks to America.

• The Vindicator, April 2, 1859, p. 2, c. 3: "Committed." A free black man from Spring Hill was jailed for killing his wife.

• The Vindicator, April 16, 1859, p. 2, c. 5: "More Amalgamation." In Hartford, Pennsylvania, an African-American named John Sophia recently ran away with a white girl name Amelia Pinley and married her. Their elopement was effected by the abolitionist family Whirting.

• The Spectator, August 2, 1859, p. 2, c. 5: "Negroes Hung--One Burnt at the Stake." Describes a lynching of a black man, who was burnt at the stake by a mob in Marshall, Saline County, Missouri. The victim allegedly murdered a white man.

• The Spectator, August 23, 1859, p. 2, c. 2: "Bob Spins a Yarn." Tells the story of Robert Napper, formerly a slave in Augusta County who earned his freedom, moved to Ohio and subsequently purchased his wife and one child. He is seeking help in getting enough money to purchase his remaining four children. The Spectator's comments are harsh, accusing him of being a thief.

• The Vindicator, October 14, 1859, p. 2, c. 5: "Departure of Emancipated Negroes--Don't Want to Leave." Claims that, out of 44 ex-slaves who had been set free, seven "chose to remain in servitude rather than enjoy their freedom outside Old Virginia."

• The Vindicator, February 3, 1860, p. 1, c. 7: "For the Vindicator: What Should Be the Policy of the South towards Free Negroes?" Argues that "free negroes" should not be sold into slavery or banished from the State, as the State Legislature of Arkansas proposed, merely because "they belong to that species whom God, in his mysterious providence, has cursed with a darkness of skin, and whom He, in His great wisdom, hath, for the purposes of civilization, subjected to the will of superior beings, and whom, I may add, these superior beings have cursed with freedom."

• The Spectator, June 26, 1860, p. 1, c. 4: "Singular Affair." Story of an escaped slave "passing" as white in Greenbrier County, where he managed to establish a family before being recognized years later and reclaimed by his former master.

• The Spectator, September 25, 1860, p. 2, c. 4: "A Sensible Negro." Praises a slave woman who was freed by her master but who voluntarily re-enslaved herself.

• The Spectator, October 16, 1860, p. 1, c. 6: "The Late Slave Murder Case." Story about a man from Mecklenburg County convicted of murdering one of his female slaves, who died after he tied her to a tree and whipped her for three hours.

• The Vindicator, January 4, 1861, p. 2, c. 1: "A Few Negro Women . . ." Provides information about the hiring out of female slaves in Staunton.

• The Vindicator, January 11, 1861, p. 1, c. 3: "Free Negroes." There are a number of free African-Americans living in Staunton who are unregistered and have no business in town, according to the Vindicator. The paper urges the authorities to notify the free blacks to leave or suffer the legal consequences.

• The Vindicator, January 11, 1861, p. 2, c. 3 "Desperate Negro Woman." A slave woman belonging to Joseph Cline, who lives four miles from Staunton, chopped off three of her fingers to prevent her master from selling her.

• The Vindicator, January 25, 1861, p. 2, c. 4: "We notice in the Amelia County Correspondence . . ." Mr. Berry of Augusta County was recently requested to leave Amelia county, where he was acting as a daguerreotypist. He was suspected of being "too familiar with slaves." The Vindicator claims that Berry is "sound on the negro question."

• The Vindicator, February 1, 1861, p. 2, c. 4: "Old Uncle Frederick Hill . . ." Old Uncle Frederick Hill, a servant at the hospital in Staunton, died last week. He was a faithful servant, and his funeral was "largely attended by colored and white persons and as much respect paid his memory as if he had been one of our most respected citizens."

• The Vindicator, May 3, 1861, p. 2, c. 1: "Negroes Volunteering." Reprinted article from the Richmond Dispatch that points out that free blacks are volunteering to help the Confederacy.

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