My mother then turned to him and cried,"Oh master, do not take me from my child!" Without making any reply, he gave her two or three blows on the shoulders with his raw-hide, snatched me from her arms, handed me to my master, and seizing her by one arm, dragged her back towards the place of sale. My master then quickened the pace of his horse; and as we advanced the cries of my poor parents became more and more indistinct-- at any length they died away in the distance, and I never again heard the voice of my poor mother. Young as I was, the horrors of that day sank deeply into my heat, and even at this time, though half a century has elapsed, the terrors of the scene return with painful vividness upon my memory. Frightened at the sight of the cruelties inflicted upon my poor mother, I forgot my own sorrows at parting from her and clung to my new master, as an angel and saviour, when compared with the hardened fiend into whose power she had fallen.
- Excerpt from Fifty Years in Chains, or, The Life of An American Slave (1858), By Charles Ball
How is it that a third generation slave from Calvert County, Maryland is remembered two hundred years after his death in the history of the nation's second war of independence, a war that solidified the destiny of a young nation and inspired the national anthem?
Let's back up a moment...
During a long and bitter battle with France, the British restricted American trade, forced recruitment of American seamen, and provided military support to Native Americans who were resisting American expansion into the west. As a result, the United States declared war on Great Britain on June 18th, 1812. Many of the initial battles were fought along the U.S./ British Canadian border until Great Britain defeated Napoleon in Europe in 1814 and was able to focus its attention on the war in North America, especially the Chesapeake Campaign. The Chesapeake Campaign is significant for several reasons: The British targeted the Chesapeake region because it was viewed as a center of trade, commerce, and was home to the U.S. government; during this campaign the British liberated nearly 4,000 enslaved African American and recruited hundreds of others into the military; and we are introduced to Charles Ball.
In the excerpt, you'll recall that Ball was sold. This sale occurred in 1805 and took Ball south to work on plantations for a Georgia trader. Several years later Ball would escape and make the journey back to Maryland where he would be forever fearful of being taken back to the south. Ball declared himself a free man and worked for local farmers until war broke out; it is possible that Charles Ball was not his given name but rather an assumed name he took on to avoid being taken back south. In December of 1813, Ball would enlist in the navy (the War of 1812 being the first time Congress authorized African American participation in the Navy) under Commodore Joshua Barney and serve as a seaman and cook for the Chesapeake Flotilla. Ball participated in the Battle of St. Leonard's Creek and the Battle of Bladensburg.
His history/memoir is hailed as a fascinating realistic account of the life of slaves and slave owners in the 19th century, even describing it as "one long wast, barren desert of cheerless, hopeless, lifeless slavery; to be varied only by the pangs of hunger, and the stings of the lash."
What's the connection?...
As you'll recall Ball was a THIRD generation slave. His grandfather was a strong African man from a royal lineage who was stolen and sold into slavery, arriving first in Calvert County ca. 1730. By the time Ball's father was born slavery had become a racialized, legislated inheritance in Maryland. Ball's memoir is significant because he mentions that his father lived within a few miles of his grandfather and was enslaved by a avaricious, penurious member of the Hantz (Hance) family. The Hance family owned a 250 acre tract of land in Calvert County, known as Overton, which happens to have a late 18th, early 19th century archaeological site known as Chapline Place (18CV344).
The faunal remains from the site has been analyzed and is currently being interpreted by none other than myself....
Stay tuned :)
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