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Take Your Offer And Shove it In Rediscovered Letter From 1865, Former Slave Tells Old Master To Shove It, Trymaine Lee,02/ 1/2012 In the summer of 1865, a former slave by the name of Jourdan Anderson sent a letter to his former master. And 147 years later, the document reads as richly as it must have back then. The roughly 800-word letter, which has resurfaced via various blogs, websites, Twitter and Facebook, is a response to a missive from Colonel P.H. Anderson, Jourdan's former master back in Big Spring, Tennessee. Apparently, Col. Anderson had written Jourdan asking him to come on back to the big house to work. In a tone that could be described either as "impressively measured" or "the deadest of deadpan comedy," the former slave, in the most genteel manner, basically tells the old slave master to kiss his rear end. He laments his being shot at by Col. Anderson when he fled slavery, the mistreatment of his and that there "was never pay-day for the Negroes any more than for the horses and cows." Below is Jourdan’s letter in full, To take a look at what appears to be a scan of the original letter, which appeared in an August 22, 1865 edition of the New York Daily Tribune, click here. As Letters Of Note points out, the newspaper account makes clear that the letter was dictated. Dayton, Ohio, August 7, 1865 To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin's to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again, and see Miss Mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville Hospital, but one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance. I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here. I get twenty-five dollars a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy,—the folks call her Mrs. Anderson,—and the —Milly, Jane, and Grundy—go to school and are learning well. The teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. They go to Sunday school, and Mandy and me attend church regularly. We are kindly treated. Sometimes we overhear others saying, "Them colored people were slaves" down in Tennessee. The feel hurt when they hear such remarks; but I tell them it was no disgrace in Tennessee to belong to Colonel Anderson. Many darkeys would have been proud, as I used to be, to call you master. Now if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again. As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be gained on that score, as I got my free papers in 1864 from the Provost-Marshal-General of the Department of Nashville. Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you were disposed to treat us justly and kindly; and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our clothing, and three doctor's visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to. Please send the money by Adams's Express, in care of V. Winters, Esq., Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future. We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night; but in Tennessee there was never any pay-day for the negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire. In answering this letter, please state if there would be any safety for my Milly and Jane, who are now grown up, and both good-looking girls. You know how it was with poor Matilda and Catherine. I would rather stay here and starve—and die, if it come to that—than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters. You will also please state if there has been any schools opened for the colored in your neighborhood. The great desire of my life now is to give my an education, and have them form virtuous habits. Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me. From your old servant, Jourdon Anderson. The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page: St. Augustine |
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Beautiful. Wow... Love it. Bruja The wealth of a soul is measured by how much it can feel; its poverty by how little. W. R. Inge
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I like Mr Jourdon Anderson.  Thanks for sharing this Page, Lady Sunshine. Have a wonderful day. "To fight the darkness do not draw your sword, light a candle" - Zarathustra
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..... I read this on the Internet also , interesting read and states his case quite well ..... A lot of repayment is due many ..... Take care ... ..  .. .. .. ..  Being human is difficult,.... Becoming human is a life long process,.... To be truly human is a gift........
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times have changed but the ide of slavery hasnt only now we call it welfare
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We occasionally see slave letters in some of the museums here in Georgia. Some slaves were treated very good, many not so good.
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2/3/2012 8:13 am |
His old master must have allowed him an education or he was a quick learner after emancipation. Perhaps he had an editor. He was also good at math. It is my understanding that education of slaves was against the law. I think that letter is fake.
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Great letter! Unfortunately, nowadays there are still some forms of slavery.  Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.(Khalil Gibran)
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times have changed but the ide of slavery hasnt only now we call it welfare Big Difference. Bruja The wealth of a soul is measured by how much it can feel; its poverty by how little. W. R. Inge
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Wondering? Where or whom Mr. Jourdan Anderson got his name from? Could it have been his past master? Wondering? Who wrote the letter for him as slaves were not allowed an education. Wondering? Why I never read about how their own people had them waiting for the slave traders with their ships arrived. . The beginning of life, conception..
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2/3/2012 5:56 pm |
Thanks for all your comments. I saw this and just had to share it. For TxJw, who thinks the letter is fake, it was published 147 years ago. Not that age makes a document valid, but then we would have to question such old documents as the constitution also. Did you note the original publication date? There is a scan of the original letter but those links don't transfer on here. "Below is Jourdan’s letter in full, To take a look at what appears to be a scan of the original letter, which appeared in an August 22, 1865 edition of the New York Daily Tribune, click here. As Letters Of Note points out, the newspaper account makes clear that the letter was dictated. " For 1gasilver, there were some slave owners who secretly taught their slaves, with innate intelligence many people are self taught, and how long do you think it takes a normal person to learn to read? I volunteered in a literacy program in South Carolina and taught adults to read in 4-6 months. The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page: St. Augustine
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