They Were Happier In Slavery

According to the far-right script endorsed by Cliven Bundy, trespasser on Federal lands who owes me some back taxes, since I apparently - and the rest of taxpayers - have been paying for the grazing of his herd of cattle.

Slaves were so much better off, and they knew it:

Greenville Online
http://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/local/south-carolina/2014/04/17/clues-found-civil-war-ship-commandeered-slave-sc-coast/7815581/

Clues found about Civil War ship commandeered by slave on S.C. coast
Ron Barnett, Gannett 9:57 a.m. EDT April 17, 2014
The remains of a ship that was commandeered in Charleston harbor by an enslaved black man during the Civil War and used as an escape vehicle may have been discovered off the South Carolina coast

GREENVILLE — The remains of a ship that was commandeered in Charleston harbor by an enslaved black man during the Civil War and used as an escape vehicle may have been discovered off the South Carolina coast, according to a historian with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Officials are not releasing details, but NOAA plans to issue a report and unveil historical markers on May 12, the 152nd anniversary of the little-known episode.

They said they don't want to announce the location because it's in an environmentally sensitive area.

[...]


"The Planter is emblematic of the efforts by enslaved African Americans to not only escape slavery, but also to pay for this freedom by joining the fight against the Confederacy, much like the Planter was turned against its former owners and transformed into a Union gunboat," Spirek said.

NOAA hopes the find will spark an interest in history and archeology among young African Americans as part of a project called Voyage to Discovery.

The story of Smalls' daring deed is inspirational in itself, Terrell said. In the early morning hours of May 13, 1862, Smalls, then 23, took control of the transport steamer with a few other black crew members. He put his wife and children aboard and headed out to sea, according to the Voyage to Discovery account.

Smalls, already skilled as a pilot, guided the craft safely through Confederate defenses and made it to the Union blockade. There, he surrendered the vessel and gave valuable intelligence about the rebel military plans, codes and fortifications.

He was hailed as a hero in the Northern press. He became a militia general and captain of the ship he had escaped in -- and went on to serve five terms in Congress. After all of that, he returned to his hometown of Beaufort, S.C., and bought the house that had been owned by his former master, where he lived out his years. And his story -- like the ship he commandeered -- quietly slipped into obscurity.

--