From the WPA Slave
Narratives:
Isaiah T. Montgomery, Born 1847 Warren
Isaiah T. Montgomery was born May 21, 1847 on Hurricane Island, Warren County,
Mississippi -- the property of Joseph E. Davis, brother of the celebrated
chief of the Southern Confederacy. His parents were Benjamin Thornton and Mary
Montgomery. He was taught the elements of common education by his father.
Isaiah was set to work at the age of 9 years in the office of Mr. Davis in the
capacity of assorting and filing papers. Later he assumed entire charge of Mr.
Davis' public and private offices and held this responsible station until the
outbreak of the Civil War. His family, with other slaves, were refuge by Mr.
Davis to the interior of Mississippi and Alabama. With his father, he was
left, to aid in the conservation of the plantation interest. For Rear Admiral
David D. Porter of the United States Navy, he served as cabin boy, subsequent
to the running of the batteries at Vicksburg by the Federal Fleet. Montgomery
enjoyed the extreme satisfaction of remembering that he contributed in some
measure to the entertainment of General Ulysses S. Grant and his son on the
memorable occasion of the crossing of the Federal Army from the opposite side
of the river at Brunswick. He was at the battle of Grand Gulf, with the first
expedition up the Red River, and present at the surrender of Vicksburg. On
account of ill health, he was released from service in the United States Navy
1863, and went to Cincinnati, Ohio. Through the kindness of Admiral Porter the
Montgomery family had been removed.
Isaiah T. Montgomery was a business man and a scholar. He was a lifelong
member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, a practical surveyor and an
expert accountant. At the International Exhibition held in the city of
Philadelphia, Pa., 1876, the firm of Montgomery & Sons was awarded a medal for
production of the best sample of raw cotton. In 1892 Montgomery was appointed
by President Theodore Roosevelt, to be Receiver of Public Moneys with
headquarters at Jackson, Miss. The following is a direct copy of a speech he
made at the Laying of the Corner Stone of the Lincoln Memorial Building at
Lincoln's birthplace farm at Hodgenville, Kentucky, February, 1909.
"At this the birthplace of the immortal Lincoln I speak as one of the four
million slaves that received the priceless boon of liberty through a stroke of
his pen, and as a representative of ten millions of Negro citizens of our
beloved country.
"I would speak of him as one of exceeding humble birth, rocked in the cradle
of adversity, but chosen of God the prophet of human liberty and not the
liberator of merely the body of four million black men, but of the minds and
hearts of his countrymen. I wish that words of mine could not merely recall
but impress upon you the fact that he entered the mighty contest that engaged
his great talents not as the enemy but as the true friend of the South,
opposing slavery in the spirit of Kentucky's great statesman, Henry Clay,
whose sublime utterances he frequently quoted in the famous anti-slavery
debates with Douglass.
"From the moment he entered that contest we see him rise, and tower above all
the other figures of his day. Whether in pleading in suffering or in
commanding, his rugged character stands out as a beacon light marking the
pathway of truth and righteousness until the culminating act of his career:
the promulgation of the immortal "Emancipation Proclamation", a copy of which
I now have the honor to deposit among the archives of this commemorating
cornerstone. I deposit this proclamation:
"First, on behalf of ten millions of grateful people who will ever remember
the noble man who espoused their helpless cause without hope of fee or reward.
"Second, on behalf of a free and united people still impressed with the
presence of grave and unsolved difficulties, yet all alike cherishing the life
and example of this great man, looking upward full of hope, with an abiding
faith in the great Author of our national destiny."
Of all the great achievements of I. T. Montgomery, and of all the distinctions
that have come to him in the course of his useful life, he will be longest
remembered for the founding and building of Mound Bayou, with his faithful
cousin B. T. Green and worthy colleagues.
I. T. Montgomery died March 16, 1924.
"About the year 1885", says Montgomery, "I wound up my connection with cotton
planting, having left the Davis property a few years previous, and took up a
small mercantile business near the National Cemetery, Vicksburg, Mississippi.
It was at this place that Major George W. McGinnis, Land Commissioner of the
Louisville, New Orleans & Texas Railway (now the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley
Railroad), began a correspondence with me, resulting in a personal conference
and made a trip of inspection through the Delta, accompanied by a civil
engineer; then selection of the site for our settlement. An enormous mound,
situated at the junction of two bayous that comprise the principal drainage
system of two-thirds of the lands in this locality, gave the place its name."
"There are two of these mounds that can be easily pointed out to the traveling
tourist. One mound is located one and three-guarter miles from the depot,
northeast of highway no. 61, and the other about three miles northeast of
highway 61, counting from the same place. Early settlers delight in telling of
Indian tomahawks, arrows and whetstones unearthed from these mounds."
(Montgomery, Isaiah T., HE TELLS HIS OWN LIFE STORY, His Early Life and the
Path to His Success)
THE WORLD presents to its readers today a story of the life of this remarkable
man, written by himself for it at the request of this journal. Not a line has
been changed. Just as he wrote it it is published. Its content will show
something of the possibilities of the race to which he belongs. Its manner and
style will show some additional characteristics of the man.
"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, Miss., where Joseph E.
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 judgment in the
selection and management of slaves. He inquired closely 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 a
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.
"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 awhile 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 Emery Davis. He soon established with me relations
of the uttermost confidence. I do not remember distinctly how he accomplished
it, but the fact remains. His wish became law, and I was almost totally free
from responsibility to any one else.
"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 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 at 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.
"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.
"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 war, and upon the acceptance of this
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, O.
"I entered the United States service on the United States 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 Gen. 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 terrible inroads 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 transportation to Cincinnati.
"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, O., 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 came 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 & 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.
"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 1885.
Father died at the old Jeff Davis mansion in 1878, mother died in 1883; and
they 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 in 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.
"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 in 1885 I
removed to Vicksburg, and, being in had 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, exclusive of cotton shipments
which amount to 250 bales, crop 1890. My real estate interests are worth about
$20,000.00. The colored people in that vicinity own 5,000 acres and are
increasing their holdings rapidly.
"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 Republican 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.
Interviewer: Unknown
Transcribed by Linda Durr Rudd
Mississippi Narratives
Prepared by
The Federal Writer's Project of
The Works Progress Administration
For the State of Mississippi
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