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He went to war to defend his “adopted country” against the Confederacy, a treasonous “empire” that had dissolved the sacred bonds of the Union to protect slavery-the “most damnable man degrading, soul killing, God dishonoring Institution that ever was permitted to exist on the face of the earth.”Ĭapt.

#Slave owner edwin epps full#

History is full of surprises.” (See his post “The Horrors “12 Years a Slave” Couldn’t Tell” on the website of Al Jazeera America.)īorn in England and raised in New York, Burrud was a man of strong opinions and a clear sense of mission. In fact, I had been looking for something entirely different. Says Rothman: “I had no idea when I opened it that Burrud’s diary would shed any light on Northup’s story and its legacies. When closed, Burrud's diary was small enough to fit into a breast pocket.īurrud’s diary was the subject of a recent blog post by historian Adam Rothman. The collection of letters and diaries that Burrud kept between September 1862 and August 1866 now forms part of The Huntington’s manuscript collections. One of these New Yorkers was John Burrud (1828–1883), an officer in the 160th Regiment of the New York Infantry. The Union soldiers, especially from New York regiments, sought out the plantation of Edwin Epps, Northup’s cruel master. In 1863, as the Union forces marched through Louisiana, Bayou Boeuf became a tourist attraction of sorts. Academy Awards also went to Lupita Nyong’o for best supporting actress and to John Ridley for best adapted screenplay.

The book is the inspiration of Steve McQueen’s Oscar-winning movie.

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One such book was Solomon Northup’s Twelve Years a Slave (1853), the harrowing tale of a free black New Yorker who was kidnapped, enslaved, and tortured on a plantation in Bayou Boeuf, La. Yet for many young men, the Civil War offered a chance to see places they had only read about in books. He said he was well acquainted with Solomon Northup.'Ī war is seldom thought of as a sightseeing opportunity. At the lower left of this opening to John Burrud's diary is a passage that reads, 'Came across an Old Slave.