Fifty Years in Chains The Life and Adventures of Charles Ball, a Black Man
- A slave narrative first published in Mifflin County

The tale was written in 1851, and appeared in stage adaptations for over twenty-five years. An 1852 stage production gave us our modern impressions of characters like Little Eva racing across the ice floe just steps ahead of the seething bloodhounds or the foul villainy of Simon Legree. Such impressions stirred audiences to swoon, for many, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was their first theatre experience. 
The melodrama had an overpowering effect against slavery in much of the United States, Europe and even the Orient, gaining for Uncle Tom a place as the most celebrated fictional character of the era. “Uncle Tom” and “Simon Legree” even became part of the language. 
Some argue Uncle Tom helped bring on the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln is said to have commented when meeting Mrs. Stowe, “So you’re the little woman who made the book that made this great war.”
Yet almost two decades earlier, a small book written in Mifflin County swept many parts of the country with as much abolitionist fervor as Uncle Tom’s Cabin ever did. It wasn’t a fictional Uncle Tom, but the first-hand account of Charles Ball, slave and run-away. In graphic detail, this narrative was recounted to a Lewistown attorney and published by a Mifflin County printer in 1836, but the title became obscured with time. 
The volume rests with the other rare books in the historical society’s vault. It’s appears very ordinary, with a well worn, dark brown leather cover, but covers can be deceiving.
This rare book is titled The Life and Adventures of Charles Ball, a Black Man and is the life story of an escaped slave, Charles Ball, who lived in Mifflin County in the 1830s.
Ball’s life story chronicles his birth in Maryland to a slave mother, of being sold into slavery and sent to the deep South to work on cotton plantations in the Carolinas and Georgia. He escaped twice, but was captured and returned to his owners. 
Ball spent one year’s service in the U.S. Navy under Commodore Barney during the War of 1812.
He stowed away on a cotton boat bound for Philadelphia on a third and successful attempt to escape. Ball was helped by Quakers to move further north and eventually settled in Lewistown. It was at that time Charles Ball dictated his life story, eventually to become a sensation twenty years before Harriet Beecher Stowe’s famous Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
The title Fifty Years in Chains came later, originally it was written as Slavery in America - The Life and Adventures of Charles Ball by Mifflin County attorney Isaac Fisher and published by John W. Shugert of Lewistown in 1836. This was the first edition of Ball’s narrative, with a second and third editions being published by John S. Taylor of New York in 1837.
In the late 1960s, Dover Publications and Kraus Reprints, both of New York, reprinted the narrative, but not before the true origins of the book were revealed.

LOCAL HISTORIAN CONTACTED BY NEW YORK PUBLISHERS

The late J. Martin Stroup, Mifflin County Historical Society past president and Lewistown Sentinel editor, was contacted by Dover Publications in 1969.
Dover wanted to reprint Charles Ball’s narrative, but found some clouded history concerning the initial publication of the book. Stroup was also contacted by Philip S. Foner, Professor of History at Lincoln University of Pennsylvania, editor of the reprint for Dover Publications.
Foner and Dover wanted to know more about the author, attorney Isaac Fisher. Ball retold his story verbally to Fisher, who wrote down the accounts over some period of time. Ball told him about his punishments for trying to escape, the slave auctions, daily chores of a slave, and the treatment meted out to slaves in that part of the South for even minor offenses.
The publisher wanted to know something of the voracity of Isaac Fisher, who is credited in the Taylor editions of 1837 with being an honest author in a most unusual way - through a letter.

PROMINENT MEN ATTEST TO FISHER’S AUTHENTICITY

In the introduction to the 1837 editions from New York, two prominent Lewistown men gave a testimonial to the facts stated in the book. A letter from David W. Hulings, local attorney and founder of an early county newspaper The Mifflin Eagle and W. P. Elliott, justice of the peace, one of the founders of the Lewistown Gazette in 1811 and longtime Gazette editor is included in this introduction. It is dated July 18, 1836 and states, in part:
...we know the black man whose narrative is given in this book....that we have heard him relate the principal matters contained in the book concerning himself, long before the book was published.
Who was the author of Ball’s story? A puzzling fact is that Fisher’s name doesn’t appear in area histories of members of the Mifflin County Bar. 
J. Martin Stroup finally came across information about Fisher in a 1945 article in the Daily News of Huntingdon, Pa., written by Albert M. Rung under the title, “Notables Now Forgotten.”

THE AUTHOR REVEALED

Much of what Rung learned of Fisher came from the memoirs of Richard S. Elliott, son of W. P. Elliot. This memoir, a copy of which is in the society’s research library, credits Isaac Fisher with authoring the narrative of Charles Ball.
Fisher was born in Delaware in the late 1700s or early 1800s and studied the law in that state at an early age. Ultimately be became a member of the Delaware Bar. He later toured various parts of the country, including the South. The memoir reveals that Fisher’s uncompromising stand against slavery can be traced to that time in his life.
Eventually he returned to Pennsylvania, settling in York and then Lewistown, where he resided for over twenty years. Fisher was admitted to the Huntingdon County Bar, but no reason can be found to explain why he never joined the Mifflin County Bar. 
During his 1835 tour of Pennsylvania by canal packet, Senator Henry Clay stopped in Lewistown for a visit. No less a person then Isaac Fisher was chosen to make the welcoming speech for Senator Clay. Unfortunately, history never noted all of Fisher’s words of welcome. One of the local newspapers did record Fisher’s concluding sentence of Clay:
Sir, your fame is as broad and deathless as the winds of Heaven.
Also recorded was that “Clay’s countenance indicated he never heard the like before.”
Fisher moved to Huntingdon in 1843 and lived there until his death in 1858. A lifelong bachelor, Isaac Fisher is buried in Huntingdon County.

The Life of Charles Ball

The tragedy of Charles Ball’s life and most slaves born at this time, is one of chance. When he was born in the late 1780s, slavery was all but dead in the North and dying in the South. 
Slavery existed all across colonial America. In Mifflin County for example, the 1790 census reveals that 17 families owned a total of thirty-one slaves.
Quaker Pennsylvania passed the first emancipation act in 1780 progressively freeing slaves over time, while thoughtful Southerners like Jefferson and Washington felt that slavery would eventually end. A French visitor to the South noted “they are constantly talking about abolishing slavery and of contriving other means of cultivating their estates.”
The old plantations system was built on tobacco, rice and indigo. Few growers planted sea-island cotton, then mostly along the Carolina coast. Separating the cotton seeds from the lint was a costly proposition, so from a purely economic view, slavery just didn’t pay as the 1700s waned. 
Enter Eli Whitney and his Cotton Engine or “gin.” Suddenly, an economical method of removing seeds from the lint was at hand and at the same time the world’s textile mills discovered cotton.
When the importation of slaves was prohibited by acts of Congress, those slaves already in the United States suddenly became more valuable.
It was during this transition to a one crop cotton economy in the South that Charles Ball found himself.
He described that his own worth as a slave was dependent on how fast he could pick cotton. Whether he was a prime field hand commanding top dollar or a lower ranked worker hinged on this ability. 
In his own words, a few excerpts from Charles Ball’s Fifty Years in Chains:

Working on Sunday...

While in the Cotton South, Georgia or South Carolina, Ball was able to work for others on Sunday and keep what he earned. He explained,
I often hired myself to work on Sunday, and have been employed in this way by more than twenty different persons, not one of whom insulted or maltreated me in any way...The practice of working on Sunday is so universal amongst the slaves on the cotton plantations, that the immorality of the matter is never spoken of.
He related that Sunday was no different than any other day on the plantation. No special set of clean clothing on Sunday. In fact, clean clothes were reserved for Monday, since Sunday was wash day on their cotton plantations.

Types of slave owners...

A man who is master of only four or five slaves is generally the most ready of all to apprehend a run-away, whom he happen to catch straying from his plantation; and generally whips him the most unmercifully for his offense. 
The law gives him the same right to arrest the person of a slave seen traveling without his pass that it vests in the owner of five-hundred Negroes...petty tyrants are the most oppressive...

On poor whites...

The white man who has no property no possessions and no education is in Carolina, in a condition no better than a slave, except he is the master of his own person...whilst the slave is bound...to the plantation...
Many live in wretched cabins, not half so good as the houses which planters provide for their slaves. Some of these cabins...are made of mere sticks...Some fix their residence in the pine woods... gathering turpentine.
In the South these white cottagers never work on the plantations for wages...the slave owner would never permit it...The slaves generally believe that however miserable they may be...it is preferred to these poor white people. This sentiment is cherished by the slaves and cultivated by their masters, who fancy that they subserve their own interest...

While on the run...

Charles Ball described his escape from Georgia around the time of the War of 1812. Following the North Star at night and hiding by day, it was an arduous, harrowing escape, taking six months to make his way back to Maryland. Always the chance of capture, he spent the first nights in a Georgia swamp.
There must have been in the troop, at least twenty horsemen; and the number of dogs was greater than I could count,, as they ran through the woods...I knew all of these men and dogs were in search of me..I should be hunted down like a wild beast. 
After gaining the Carolina shore, I took an observation of the rising moon and of such stars as I was acquainted...When daylight appeared I could see that the country around me was well inhabited and the forest in which I lay was surrounded by plantations.
Charles traveled by night and found hiding places by day, until he recognized the place where he was sold, in Columbia, South Carolina. He followed this same pattern of traveling until he reached North Carolina. During this escape, Charles was on the run for almost six months and found himself in central Virginia, where he was captured and jailed.
I knew I was not far from Maryland and I fell into great indiscretion and forgot the wariness and caution that had enabled me to overcome so many obstacles...Anxious to get forward I neglected to conceal myself before day...I ran by a house near the road and a man opened the door and called to me to stop.
When I didn’t, he set his dog on me...The dog was quickly vanquished by me stick...but a party of patrollers eventually surrounded me...They ordered me to cross my hands, which order not being immediately obeyed, they beat me with sticks and stones until I was almost senseless and entirely unable to make resistance. They bound me with cords and dragged me by the feet and threw me into the man’s kitchen like a dead dog.
Unable to produce the necessary papers according to the law, Charles was placed in jail until his identity could be established. After thirty-nine days in this jail, Charles found a weakness in one of the cell door timbers and escaped one night, crossing the Potomac River returning to his Maryland home.
About one o’clock in the morning, I came to the door of my wife’s cabin and stood there, I believe about five minutes before I could summon sufficient fortitude to knock. I at length rapped lightly on the door and was immediately asked in the well known voice of my wife, “Who is there?”- I replied, “Charles.”
She then came to the door and opened it slowly and said, “Who is this that speaks so much like my husband?” I then rushed in and made myself known to my wife, but it was some time before I could convince her that I was really her husband, returned from Georgia. The children were then called up, but they had forgotten me...
My wife, who at first was overcome by astonishment at seeing me again in her cabin...seemed to awaken from this dream and gathered all the children in her arms and thrust them into my lap, as I sat in the corner, clapped her hands, laughed and cried in turns...and in her ecstasy forgot to give me any supper, until at length I told her I was hungry. Before I entered the house I felt I could eat anything in any shape of food, but now that I attempted to eat, my appetite fled, and I sat up all night with my wife and children....

During the War of 1812...

Charles Ball recounts how during the War of 1812, black slaves “deserted” their masters and fled to the British fleet. Since the British did not recognize slavery as legal, British naval officers treated the escapees as free men. 
The slaves of a Mrs. Wilson effected their escape in the following manner. Two or three of the men ...ran away and got to the fleet...they stole a canoe and went off to the nearest ship that lay by the shore. When on board, they informed the officer of the ship that their mistress owned more than a hundred slaves, whom they left behind...They were advised to return home and remain there until the next night...bring all the remaining slaves with them...the officer promised he would send a detachment of boats to the shore to bring them off.
On the next night, having communicated their plans to some to their fellow slaves...they rose at midnight and partly by persuasion and partly by compulsion, carried off all the slaves of the plantation....they kindled a fire on the beach...and the boats of the fleet came and removed the whole party on board. In the morning, when the overseer of Mrs. Wilson arose and went to call his hands to the field, he found only empty cabins...
Charles Ball served in the US Army during the War of 1812 and was discharged in 1814. His wife died in 1816 and he moved to near Baltimore. By 1820 he had remarried and accumulated about $350 through hard work and thrift and bought twelve acres there which he farmed.

Returned to slavery...

In June, 1830, the unthinkable happened - Charles was kidnapped by slave hunters while he was working his fields near Baltimore. He was thrown into jail, to be returned to Georgia. Charles thought at this time how different his life would have been if he had deserted to the British during the war. 
In time, he convinced one of his captors to allow him to escape and Charles made his way to Philadelphia. He continues...
After remaining in Philadelphia a few weeks, I resolved to return to my little farm in Maryland...sell my property for as much as it would produce and bring my family to Pennsylvania.
Upon arriving in Baltimore, I went to a tavern keeper, whom I formerly supplied vegetables from my garden. The man appeared greatly surprised to see me...he showed me a hand-bill ...offering one-hundred and fifty dollars for my apprehension. I fled Baltimore that very night and went to my former residence, I found a strange white man there...who told me the woman and children who were here were carried away as escaped slaves and sold in Baltimore for the south...
Eventually, Charles would learn the worst of all news from a local black woman who had information - his family was taken by his former masters from which he escaped in Georgia.
This intelligence almost deprived me of life..it was clear that some slave dealers had come in my absence and seized my wife and children as slaves and sold them to such men as I had served in the south. They now passed into hopeless bondage...I was advertised as a fugitive slave...liable for arrest at any moment and to be dragged back to Georgia. I rushed away in despair and returned to Pennsylvania.
Charles Ball would live out his life in Pennsylvania, but even there not quite safe from slave catchers.
For the last few years, I have resided about fifty miles from Philadelphia, where I expected to pass the evening of my life...without the least hope of ever seeing my wife and children...fearful to let my place of residence be known, lest even yet...as an article of property, I am of sufficient value to be worth pursuing in my old age.

The life story of Charles Ball was recorded in Mifflin County by Isaac Fisher in 1836. His was a compelling story that helped influence the feelings of pre-Civil War America. 
In Part 2 of Mifflin County Reacts to Slavery, read how some Mifflin Countians took an active part in the abolitionist movement plus the thrilling escape of Richard Barnes from slave catchers in Lewistown and why slave catchers sued the town.