Oh, Heaven! and is there no relief
This side the silent grave
To soothe the pain, to quell the grief
And anguish of a slave? ¹

A contemporary writer described the slave-trader as a "coarse,
ill-bred person, provincial in speech and manners, with a cross-look-
ing phiz, a whiskey-tinctured nose, cold hard-looking eyes, a dirty
tobacco-stained mouth, and shabby dress." The trader's insensitivity
made him suffer no qualms, "for although he habitually separates
parent from child, brother from sister, and husband from wife, he
is yet one of the jolliest dogs alive, and never evinces the least sign
of remorse. . . . So soon as he has completed his 'gang' he dresses
them up in good clothes, makes them comb their kinky heads into
some appearance of neatness, rubs oil on their dusky faces to give
them a sleek healthy color, gives them a dram occasionally to make
them sprightly, and teaches each one the part he or she has to play;
and then he sets out for the extreme South. . . ." ²

Much of the slave trade in Florida centered in Tallahassee since
this capital city was in the heart of the cotton belt. New Orleans
was perhaps the largest slave market in the South. ³ "Negro-traders,"
characters looked down upon by all, purchased slaves there "from
the block" at public outcry, then proceeded with them to various

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