The Bloodhound War
B stands for Bloodhound. On merciless fangs
The slaveholder feels that his “property” hangs.
And the dog and the Master are hot on the track,
To torture or bring the black fugitive back.
The weak has but fled from the hand of the strong,
Asserting the right and resisting the wrong,
While he who exults in a skin that is white,
A Blood hound employs in asserting his might.
- O chivalry-layman and dogmatist-priest,
Say, which is the monster- the man or the beast?
Iron Gray (Abel Charles Thomas), The Gospel of Slavery: A Primer
of Freedom (New York: T. W. Strong, 1864)
Slave owners often trained bloodhounds to track and sometimes kill
runaway slaves. The “Bloodhound War” was a euphemism used
to describe the Abolitionist cause against slavery in the Americas
in the nineteenth century. Bloodhounds were any of a breed of large
dogs with a smooth coat, sharp fangs and a keen sense of smell. Slave
owners trained and employed bloodhounds to propagate racial dominance
by hunting, viciously attacking and sometimes killing runaway slaves.
Abolitionists used the vivid imagery of bloodhounds as ruthless human-hunters
who symbolized the ill treatment and the inhumanity of slavery, and
to mobilize the anti-slavery movement. This image resembles those
used by abolitionists to expose the harsh treatment suffered by slaves
who tried to resist their white oppressors. The consequence of slave
resistance was usually submission and sometimes death. In this picture
the light coloured dog has quelled all resistance and conquered the
black shadow, which lies limp and lifeless in its jaws. Ms Goodyear’s
drawing conjures up a feeling of calm after a savage and furious struggle.
With regard to the enslavement of Africans and their abuse as slaves,
this scene is reflective of violence that has already been committed.
The master has triumphed over his rebellious slave. The battle between
the predator and his prey is over. The scene is one of a victor, racial
dominance, calmly parading his victim, as a prize, ready to be delivered
back into slavery, a state of social and sometimes physical death.
Dr Laura Sandy, MA, PhD; Post Doctorate Fellow, Unversity of Manchester
(ESRC funded), Research Area: Colonial American History.
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