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Chapter 0: Freedom from Slavery in Prison
What Samuel Maddox really wanted was to sell his uncle’s former slaves. And for that reason, Kitty, Eliza Jane, Mary, and Arthur James went to prison. After the nighttime kidnapping, the speedy wagon journey got them over the Mason Dixon line, and from there, a day or two later, they stopped at the plantation of…
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Introduction: When the Freed are Still Enslaved
Even when enslaved people had been freed, they were still in danger, as this true incident shows. At eight years old, Eliza Jane Payne was used to work—she was born enslaved and had been helping with laundry and cleaning chores since before she could remember. In her early years, it was for Mrs. Mary Maddox,…
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Chapter 7: A Business I Can Do
“Christian perseverance” was how the obituaries often said it, as in, “She bore her final affliction with great resolve and Christian perseverance.” Carrie Sheads often thought of that phrase as she listened to her young piano students butcher Chopin or pound Mozart with the hammers of their clumsy hands and stubby farmer fingers. Of course,…
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Chapter 6: Penny Candy
Samuel Milton Bushman was restless. School was out, Pa was working, and Ma had kept him occupied with morning chores. They lived on Baltimore Street near the base of Cemetery Hill. They had a few chickens that Ma made him feed and cleanup after. He also had to help sweep the kitchen, the front room,…
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Chapter 5: Flight
All of Hannah’s senses were on edge. She smelled the heavy air that mixed nighttime moisture with the smells of the creek, cow manure, and Mama’s biscuits. She heard every creak in the house, as her parents shuffled about and her siblings snored. And then, finally, in the pitch around midnight, she heard the front…
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Chapter 4: McAllister’s Mill
Jennie set aside the stack of trousers and looked up at her mother. Sunlight streamed through the window of the small house on Breckenridge Street. Her mother had upholstery for a carriage at a small table in the front room. Her hair was pulled back, and beads of sweat had formed on her forehead. Georgia…
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Chapter 3: Past Due
Early morning, and Jack Skelly pulled a wagon behind him with newly sewn upholstery stacked up. Wes Culp walked next to him, a bag slung over his shoulder with his sandwich and an apple for lunch later in the day. Coming the opposite direction was Jennie Wade, blonde hair past her shoulders with a portion…
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Chapter 2: Runaway
On days like this, when no clouds hung in the sky and when no breeze cooled their sweat, Daddy was easy on them. He never stopped working the bean and cornfields himself, but he always let the girls, just a year apart in age, head over to Marsh Creek to wade in and cool off.…
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Chapter 1: Commitment
Two men with mustaches stared at young Jennie, their question hanging in the air. As Jennie struggled for words, she pictured Papa’s hands with a needle and thread—how deftly he moved among seams, tied off strands, started new lines, switched to scissors and back. Jennie took a deep breath and looked at the man in…