Journey to Galveston

Journey to Galveston

••

Book Seven

Journey to Galveston

••

Melodie A. Cuate

Texas Tech University Press

Copyright © 2014 by Melodie A. Cuate

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including electronic storage and retrieval systems, except by explicit prior written permission of the publisher. Brief passages excerpted for review and critical purposes are excepted.

This book is typeset in Mrs Eaves. The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R1997).

Designed by Kasey McBeath

Illustrations by Ashley Beck and Lindsay Starr

The table displayed on page xi is borrowed from the Texas Almanac and titled City Population History from 1860–2000. It is available at http://www.texasalmanac.com/sites/default/files/images/CityPopHist web.pdf

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cuate, Melodie A.

Journey to Galveston / Melodie A. Cuate.

pages cm. — (Mr. Barrington’s mysterious trunk ; book 7)

Summary: Hannah, Nick, and Jackie time-travel to Texas in 1865. Jackie, mistaken for an escaped slave, is taken, Hannah and Nick discover the life of slaves even after the Civil War and the horrors of plantation life; while rescuing Lily they meet General Granger and experience the first Juneteenth— Provided by publisher.

ISBN 978-0-89672-852-3 (hardback) — ISBN 978-0-89672-853-0 (e-book)

1. Texas—History—1865-1950—Juvenile fiction. 2. Granger, Gordon, 1822-1876—

Juvenile fiction. [1. Texas—History—1865-1950—Fiction. 2. Granger, Gordon, 1822-1876—Fiction. 3. Slavery—Fiction. 4. Plantation life—Texas—Fiction. 5. African Americans—Fiction. 6. Juneteenth—Fiction. 7. Time travel—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.C8912Jm 2014

[Fic]—dc23 2013049864

Printed in Canada

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 / 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Texas Tech University Press

Box 41037 | Lubbock, Texas 79409-1037 USA

800.832.4042 | ttup@ttu.edu | www.ttupress.org

To three special in-laws

Arnulfo, Carmen, and Adela Cuate

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Contents

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Texas Timeline

Historical Characters

Chapter One: The Fright

Chapter Two: The Trunk

Chapter Three: The Plantation

Chapter Four: Jacqueline

Chapter Five: The Twins

Chapter Six: The Change

Chapter Seven: The Attic

Chapter Eight: The Quarters

Chapter Nine : The Ballgame

Chapter Ten: Sold

Chapter Eleven: The Graveyard

Chapter Twelve: The Signal Tree

Chapter Thirteen: The Runaways

Chapter Fourteen: The Swamp

Chapter Fifteen: Odette Lafitte

Chapter Sixteen: Throwing Bones

Chapter Seventeen: The Trip down the Neches

Chapter Eighteen : Galveston Island

Chapter Nineteen : General Granger

Chapter Twenty: Confrontation

Chapter Twenty-One: Home Again

Acknowledgments

About the Author

About the Series

Texas Timeline

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1821: Stephen F. Austin’s original 300 families brought slaves with them when they moved to Texas.

1825: Austin’s colony soon grew to 1,800 people. Of those, 443 were enslaved.

1836: After the Texas Revolution, Texas became an independent republic. Its estimated population was 38,470. Of those, 5,000 were enslaved. The Constitution of the Republic of Texas supported slavery.

1845: Texas entered the United States as a slave state, home to at least 30,000 bondsmen. To help control the enslaved population, Texas created formal slave patrols to hunt down escaped slaves and enforce discipline. They were referred to as patrollers, pattyrollers, or paddy rollers.

1850: The Texas slave population increased more rapidly than any other group. Galveston and Houston became centers of slave trade in the South.

1861: The Civil War began with slavery as one of the major issues. Texas seceded from the United States and joined the Confederate States.

1863: On January 1, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, officially freeing the slaves. It stated, All persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.

1865: Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, ending major fighting in the Civil War. Other Confederate armies surrendered in late April and during May.

Later, on June 19 in Galveston, General Gordon Granger issued General Orders, No. 3, enforcing the freedom of slaves in Texas. This proclamation and historic event led to the annual celebration of Juneteenth.

Major Texas City Populations, 1860–1870

*Census of incorporated towns of Texas taken in 1858 by tax assessors and collectors in each county.

+Federal census of western part of Texas for 1870, as given in Texas Almanac for 1871.

++An estimate of that date.

Enslaved Population in Texas

Historical Characters

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Granger, Major General Gordon (ca. 1822–1876): Born in Joy, New York, Granger graduated from West Point in 1845 and fought in the Mexican War. During the Civil War, he served in the Union army. He was promoted to major general in 1862. After the Civil War ended, he arrived in Galveston, Texas, with 2,000 troops on June 19, 1865. As their commander, Granger enforced General Orders, No. 3, which officially freed all Texas slaves, numbering about 250,000 at the war’s end.

Lafitte, Jean (1780?–1825?): Lafitte was born in France, the son of a French father and Spanish mother. In the early 1800s, Jean and his older brother Pierre sailed the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico as privateers and pirates, smuggling goods and slaves. In 1808, they operated businesses in New Orleans and a few years later on Galveston Island. During the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, Jean Lafitte and his forces fought for the United States against the British in exchange for a government pardon for their illegal activities. By 1820, the US government forced the Lafitte brothers to leave Galveston, and Jean settled on an island off the coast of Yucatán.

Sigler, Henry (ca. 1815–?): Sigler was born in Virginia. A free African American resident of Galveston, he made a living as a barber and often entertained his patrons by playing the violin. Besides being a barber, Sigler invented a safer fishhook in 1854. He sold the fishhook patent for $625.

Journey to Galveston

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A promise I’ve made.

A promise I’ll keep

bind actions to words.

Through graveyards we creep.

A catch in my voice

sparks fear in your eyes.

With shackles thrown down,

it’s our time to fly!

This journey is hard.

Hounds snap at our heels.

Faster, run faster!

Our fate has been sealed!

A voice in the night

sparks mem‘ries of pain.

Our freedom to lose,

our freedom to gain.

So swiftly we race,

hate clouding our dreams.

Will faith carry us

’til Jubilee gleams?

Melodie A. Cuate

Chapter One: The Fright

T his is disgusting! Raindrops splattered against the kitchen window as Hannah slid one of the thick red candles from the center of the table closer to her. The scent of apples and cinnamon arose from the melting wax. She pushed her shoulder-length brown hair behind her ears and then ran a finger across the page of a book touched only by flickering candlelight. It says a slave could cost from $900 to $1,500 in Texas in the early 1800s. A recent captive from Africa would sometimes be less, $150 to $300.

Jackie leaned over the table and turned the book so that it faced her. The going rate for a captive might even be figured at a dollar a pound! That’s sick! How could anyone treat human beings like that? She reached into a large bowl of buttery popcorn and grabbed a handful.

A flash of lightning brightened the room. Thunder boomed and crackled like cars crashing above Hannah’s house. As a softer rumble echoed in the distance, the kitchen darkened again. I wonder how long the lights will be out, she murmured, glancing through the window at the black sky. She picked a few puffy kernels from the bowl and started to eat.

As Jackie munched on the popcorn, she selected another book from the stack on the table and flipped it open. Her black ponytail bounced as she glanced from page to page. Light or no light, we have to get started on our history report for Mr. B. Mr. Barrington, their seventh-grade history teacher, was expecting a detailed project in less than a week.

Hannah scribbled a few words across a notepad and opened another book from the stack. We need to include Juneteenth, the celebration to remember the ending of slavery.

Got it here! Jackie ran her finger beneath a picture. General Granger, this guy with a really, really long beard, came to Galveston with 2,000 soldiers in 1865. He announced on June 19th that slaves in Texas had to be emancipated . . . you know, freed.

Wait. I just wrote down the Civil War ended on April 9th, 1865. Why did it take almost two months for Texas slaves to be freed?

And why did General Granger have to come all the way to Galveston to announce it?

We have some digging to do. Tab that page so we can scan his picture later. Here’s another good photo. Looking back at Hannah from a field was a group of slaves, adults and children. They were picking snow-white bolls of cotton which reminded her of the popcorn they were eating. Some of the slaves balanced large woven baskets filled with cotton on their heads. Their faces were emotionless, almost like robots, but deep in their eyes, an overwhelming sorrow seemed to spring up from their souls. Their expressions tore at Hannah’s heart.

Some slave owners were barbarians! Jackie pushed a book toward Hannah. As Hannah gazed at the picture, her eyes widened. Horrendous scars from a whip covered a man’s bare back. The girls examined the picture as