Isaiah Thornton Montgomery
His Early Life as a Slave and the Path to his Success
Extracted by Linda Durr Rudd
My father, Benjamin Thornton Montgomery was born in Loudoun
County,
VA. Before arriving fully at the age of manhood, he was taken without
warning and sold to a trader, who brought him south to Natchez,
Mississippi, where
Joseph Emory Davis, Esq., a distinguished planter purchased and
took him to his extensive plantation in Warren County, Miss., known as Hurricane,
and afterwards in connection with Brierfield,
the plantation of Hon. Jefferson Davis, known as the Davis Estate,
giving the title of Davis Bend
to a large section of country in the Southwest portion of Warren County.
The plantation was newly settled, and my father did not
take kindly
to the change from Virginia town life to plantation life, so he ran
away, but was soon recovered by Mr. Davis, who was a man of superior
judgement in the selection and management of slaves. He inquired closey
into the cause of father's dissatisfaction, and as a result they
reached a mutual understanding and established a mutual confidence
which time only served to strengthen throughout their long and eventful
connection.
Father possessed a slight knowledge of reading and writing.
Mr.
Davis encouraged it and he came to have a fair education and learned to
be proficient mechanic, machinist and civil engineer, using his talents
for the advancement of his master.
He conducted a small mercantile business on his own
account, keeping accounts with all members of the family, Mr.
Jefferson Davis, included. He gradually accumulated a fair library.
My mother, Mary Montgomery, came of Virginia parentage, who
were among the earliest settlers brought to the Davis plantation.
They have four children now living: William Thornton
Montgomery and
the writer, Isaiah Thornton Montgomery, Mary Virginia Montgomery,
Rebecca C. Montgomery.
Birth and Early Training
I was born on the historic plantation, heretofore named on May
21,
1847, received my first instruction from a Webster blue back speller on
Sabbath mornings at the hands of a slave of Jefferson Davis named
George Stewart. Father taught me the art of writing, and gave me
lessons at night to be recited on the following night. At the age of
ten, my mistress desired to have me about the house to begin training
for such a position as they desired me to fill in the future.
Father objected for a while because he thought my studies
would be
neglected. My mistress overcame his scruples and I was inducted into
the domestic life of that remarkable man, Joseph Emory Davis. He soon
established with me relations of the uttermost confidence. I do not
remember how it was accomplished but the fact remains, his wish became
law, and I was almost totally free from responsibility to any one else.
Davis' Private Secretary
My duties to a considerable extent were those of a private
secretary
and office attendant. At night, sleeping in his room and performing
such services for him as a boy of my age could render. Shortly after
leaving home my regular lessons ceased but being regularly employed in
one of the finest libraries for which this section was proverbial and
having free access to all reading matter which came daily, weekly, and
monthly to the parlor and library of the Davis family, I read a great
deal, but it was without method and served only to give a fair
knowledge of history and current events, of language and composition by
familiarity and use, which has stood me well in hand to this day, for I
have never studied either.
Hon. Jefferson Davis was in public life in Washington and
generally
visited his brother once or twice per annum. Whenever he came without
his family, it was one of my special duties to look after his comfort.
He appeared to be pleased and we became such fast friends that I was
always pleased to hear of his intended visits.
War Experiences
During the war one of my duties was to carry the United States
mail
bag from Hurricane Post Office to Ashwood where connection was made
with the great mail steamers or southern floating palaces of former
days, the Natchez, Princess, Vicksburg, and Charmer. The clerks of
these steamers having extensive business with my father, on his own
account and as a representative of both Joseph and Jefferson Davis,
were careful to supply me with the latest papers and chat over the
latest news whenever time allowed.
Eager for the News
As a rule, I read the dispatches and principal editorials as
soon as
possible after getting the papers. Consequently, on reaching home the
Davis family expected news from me before opening their mail. After the
bloody conflicts at Donelson, Belmont and the capture of Corinth, my
master with his stock and great body of slaves, went as refugees to
Alabama. He desired to carry me but father objected strongly on the
grounds that the charge of the places and his family imposed more
duties than he could perform without a confidential assistant.
Mr. Davis finally yielded to my father's solicitations, and
I
remained on the plantation till a portion of Admiral Porter's fleet ran
the Vicksburg blockade. Having seen the position of the United States
gunboat, Indianola, before she was sunk caused me to be brought into
the presence of Admiral David. D. Porter to furnish such information as
would enable him to locate a cannon that had been thrown overboard.
The big gun was never found, but Admiral Porter persuaded
father to
let me go with him, and also recommended that father and his family
leave the country and go North, to escape the hardships of father, and
upon the acceptance of their recommendation he supplied father with
transportation to Cairo. Through the influence of Captain Richardson
commanding the transport, Father, Mother, and two sisters located in
Cincinnati, Ohio.
In the Union Service
I entered the United States service on the gunboat Benton, but
followed Admiral Porter to any steamer where he intended stopping for
awhile. I was at the battle of Grand Gulf, and saw General Grant cross
his troops below there to assault Port Gibson, Jackson and finally
encompass Vicksburg. I went with the fleet to Alexandria, La., and
returning took part in naval encounters at Vicksburg, being present at
its capitulation in July 1863.
Meantime, the fortunes of war had freed my brother and he
also
entered the United States naval service on the gunboat Carondelet. The
water during my trip up Red River on the gunboat made a terrible inroad
on my health, and Admiral Porter having promised my Father to care for
me in every particular, decided to send me home, and I was discharged
at Mound City, Ill., during the fall of 1863, and given transporation
to Cincinnati.
Life in the North
All through that dreary winter I lingered between life and
death.
During the year 1864, I worked at the carpenter's trade and in a canal
boat dockyard near Cumminsville, Ohio, with my father. In 1864 both of
us barely escaped being enlisted for the draft, he being one year too
old, and I one year too young. brother was discharged in 1864 and ame
home to join father and myself in work.
At the first dawn of peace, brother returned South in 1865
to see
what outlook there was for the resumption of business. He soon opened
business on the old plantation and father invested all of our little
capital in merchandise to be shipped South by river while I came via
Cairo, being shortly followed by father himself, who established the
firm of Montgomery and Sons and assigned me to the bookkeeping and
correspondence. I made a brief study of mathematics and bookkeeping
with the aid of such assistance as could be had.
He Buys the Old Plantation
In 1866, I made a trip to Cincinnati and brought the family
home.
With the first return of peace, correspondence between Mr. J. E. Davis
and my father was resumed which resulted in the sale of the Davis
Estate, some 4000 acres, to us in 1867.
In this year occurred the disastrous overflow. Mr. Davis
remitted
three-quarters of the interest for that year. On the Davis property and
a place adjoining called Ursino we conducted a cotton business of
between two and three thousand bales annually for a period of ten
years. Losses by the continued decline in cotton and a branch business
in Vicksburg finally engulfed our entire capital, and we retired from
the cotton business in 1875. Father died at the old Jeff Davis mansion
in 1878, mother died in 1885; and they both sleep the last sleep in the
old Davis burying ground close by the master and mistress of former
days. My brother having become discouraged at future prospects of the
South, embarked in the business of grain raising in North Dakota, where
he now owns an elevator and plants between 700 and 1000 acres in grain.
His Marriage
In 1872, I married Miss Martha Robb who was born of a slave
mother
near McNutt, Miss., in May 1852. After the close of our cotton
business, I removed to Vicksburg and being in bad health, did very
little for two years. In the fall of 1886, my attention was attracted
to the Great Yazoo (Miss. Delta). After investigating that section
closely, I opened a colony which now numbers about six hundred persons,
and laid out the growing little town of Mound Bayou
on the L. N. O. and T. R. R., in Bolivar County where I now conduct a
business of $30, 000.00 per annum inclusive of cotton shipments which
amount to 250 bales, crop 1890. My real estate interests are worth
about $20,000.00. The colored people in the vicinity own 5, 000 acres
and are increasing their holdings rapidly.
Public Life
I was a delegate to the Warren County Republican Convention
during
the Blaine Campaign. From said county convention, I was sent as a
delegate to the District Congressional Convention where I delivered my
first public speech, naming Mr. R. F. Beck. One of the State Rebublican
electors having died or resigned. I was substituted in his place and
took an active interest in the campaign especially in the Congressional
District but only made one speech, that at Magnolia Hall in Vicksburg.
In 1888, I was placed on the Republican County Committee in
Bolivar
County, where in all county affairs I have actively indorsed a fusion
movement in county elections. But the Democratic Party having ignored
that arrangement in the selection of delegates to the Constitutional
Convention, I was earnestly pressed by the Republican County committee
to become a candidate in company with Hon. Geo. P. Melchoir, and as a
result of the election held July 29, 1890, I hold my first commission
to any elective office, viz: as delegate from Bolivar County to the
Constitutional Convention.
In May 1890, I visited Washington with a committee
representing the
Republicans and citizens of the Mississippi Valley to represent the
Valley interest in relation to obtaining government assistance in
restraining overflows and controlling the Mississippi River and was one
of the sub-committee who presented our case to the Senate Committee on
commerce.(This is the end of Montgomery's account of his life.)
Additional Notes: Montgomery was the only Black and
Rebublican
member of the 1890 Mississippi Constitutional Convention elected from
Bolivar County. His participation was the most controversial act of his
life. While his faith in mankind proved a disappointment, his motives
and his statesmanship proved faulty because of lack of these qualities
in others who charted the course of history in this country. At the
time of this convention our government had turned its back on its
citizens of color. Although it was not representative of the majority
of the citizens, Blacks were helpless. Montgomery said"...I am willing
that the Negro should be disfranchised because he is ignorant, but I am
not willing that he should be disfranchised because he is Black. And if
intelligence is to be made a test of suffrage I insist that the White
man shall submit to the same requirements that are imposed upon the
Black man."
In answer to the suffrage question being left open to White
fraud,
Montgomery said, "I suppose that most White men will become voters
under this provision. The suffrage provisions did not wholly suit me
but I accepted them as the beginning of the end of the great race
question."
Of all the achievements of Isaiah T. Montgomery, he will be
remembered for the founding of Mound Bayou, Bolivar County, MS, with
his cousin Benjamin
T. Green. He died March 08, 1924, at Mound Bayou, the Black
township he so diligently helped to established.
According to the Warren
County Slave Schedule, Joseph E. Davis owned 365 slaves and his
brother Jefferson Davis owned 113 slaves.
Source
Isaiah Montgomery - Subject File
Found at Mississippi Department
of History and Archives |
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