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Interesting letter from former slave to former master

Discussion in 'Civil War History - General Discussion' started by 16thVA, Jan 31, 2012.

  1. 16thVA Corporal

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  3. wilber6150 Brig. General, Mod

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    That was great especially loved this part ..

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  4. Hannah Sergeant

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    I did too!
  5. mulejack Sergeant

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  6. RobertP 2nd Lieutenant

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    Anybody else's BS detector twitching a little bit?
  7. Copperhead-mi Sergeant

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    No.
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  8. Littlestown First Sergeant

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    Afraid so, but, so far, I find that it can neither be proven, nor dis-proven.
  9. James B White Sergeant

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  10. 16thVA Corporal

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    RobertP has a point, things do spread across the internet and we lose sight of the original source. That website had a link to the New York Daily Tribune where the letter was printed for the 2nd time. The letter was apparently dictated and how much the writer altered or influenced the text would be impossible to say. Phrases like "there is nothing to be gained on that score" I believe would not come naturally to some who was illiterate. However, the letter may express his feelings, despite the rephrasing.


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  11. rhp6033 Corporal

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    Nice letter, written somewhat in the style of Mark Twain. I had to chuckle at the last bit, especially.

    My first instinct was to dispute the authenticity of the document, since it seems too literate to have come so recently from a former slave. But then again, it might have been dicated to someone who could write well (the letter refers to an attorney in who's name the money should be sent). That might account for the "clean up" of the language and literacy of the author.
  12. James B White Sergeant

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    Yes, I'm not sure what the doubtful part is. That it actually appeared in a period newspaper? That seems to be true.

    That the people involved actually existed? That also seems true, based on the census information.

    That the ex-slave dictated the letter exactly word-for-word as it stands? I definitely doubt that.

    That the ex-slave expressed those sentiments and the person he was dictating to reworded it in an acceptable style? It seems reasonable, especially since a real name was used. It seems odd a random white humorist would have researched the name of an ex-slave and a master, just to create a bit of humorous filler for a newspaper, at a time when making up funny names was just as common a tradition, if not more so, and few people at the time would have even known whether the names referred to real people or not. I also expect that the ironic humor might have been part of the original dictator's attitude.
  13. Copperhead-mi Sergeant

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    What makes you believe that he was illiterate? It was not a rarity to find an ex-slave who had been taught to read and write while enslaved.
  14. James B White Sergeant

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    Probably because the original letter as printed in the Daily Tribune (linked from the link in the OP) was prefaced by this:

    ""The following is a genuine document. It was dictated by the old servant, and contains his ideas and forms of expression. -- Cincinnati Commercial."
  15. Copperhead-mi Sergeant

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    Ok, I missed that. Thanks for pointing it out. I agree that the letter was dictated, rephrased, and likely written as suggested by rhp, by the attorney who was listed in the letter. Even so, it does not offer any evidence that the ex-slave was illiterate.
  16. Littlestown First Sergeant

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    I confirmed the census information on Ancestry. In the census, Jordan cannot read or write, and Amanda, his wife, can only read, but, their children attend school in the records shown.
  17. Copperhead-mi Sergeant

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    Good enough. Thank you.
  18. Nathanb1 Brig. General, Mod

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    It also still begs the question of who provided what words......I'm reminded of Herman Lehmann's "Nine Years Among the Indians" which he wrote with the "help" of J.Marvin Hunter, the editor of Frontier Times. While the book is essentially correct, Hunter undoubtedly edited a great deal and may have added a number of episodes. How do we know? Herman mostly spoke German, Apache and Comanche....so the rather florid Victorian prose in spots is unlikely to be his. Not an unusual occurrence in the day, by the way....editorial ethics were a little different back then.

    Just a thought.
  19. wilber6150 Brig. General, Mod

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    Its still a amusing letter lol
  20. Nathanb1 Brig. General, Mod

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    Yes, and should be taken as such.
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  21. Karen Lips First Sergeant

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    Not mine.

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