Our Slave Called Robin

I can't let the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War pass without acknowledging that my ancestors owned human beings. My great-times-10 grandfather John Hutchins, born in 1640, designated in his will that a slave named "Robin" be given to his grandson Richard. "Robin" didn't come with a last name and there's no record of what Richard did with the gift. I hope Robin was young enough to live long enough to be owned by Richard's son Strangeman Hutchins. In 1782, Strangeman, a Quaker, did the right thing. He freed his 12 slaves. I don't have a photo of Strangeman, but I like to think there was some sort of resemblance between him and his great grandson David, pictured above. As a 17-year-old, David Hutchins Jr. enlisted in the Union Army. During the next three years, he fought at the battles of Richmond, KY; Chickasaw Bluffs, MS; Arkansas Post; Thompson's Hill; Champion Hill; Black River; Siege of Vicksburg; Jackson, MS; Alexandra, LA; and the siege of Blakeley, AL. At 21, David left the army, married and joined the Quaker Church. He struggled to rid himself of the war, suffering through continuing nightmares of being consumed by a threshing machine and of carrying a wounded soldier who died in his arms. The Hutchins didn't do right by Robin. But eventually, they did right for Robin's children's children.