Master Honored by his Former Slave

This very interesting headstone in the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery, Lexington, Virginia, was lovingly purchased and placed by a former slave in honor of his master, who died ten years before the outbreak of the War Between the States.

The inscription reads:

David McKinley

Died 1851

Aged

About 70 Years

My Trust is in God.

Erected by Peter Fleming

his former Slave.

For a century and a half this simple grave marker has born silent testimony to the familial bonds of affection which often existed between slave and slaveholder in the antebellum South.  It confirms the records left by hundreds of former slaves in the WPA Slave Narratives, in which the overwhelming majority speak of their former masters with fondness and appreciation. 

It also is a testimony to the Christian faith of both slave and master.  Such a kindred spirit between slave and slaveholder in this "peculiar institution" is impossible to conceive outside of a shared Christian faith.  Many Christian slaveholders were opposed to slavery as a permanent condition, but were realistic enough to know that immediate, forced emancipation, without proper preparation, would be harmful to both the individual slave and the larger community.

A prime example of this is General Stonewall Jackson, the namesake of the cemetery where this stone is found.  Jackson personally assisted many slaves in gaining their freedom and he helped hundreds more by educating them in his Colored Sunday School.  Jackson saw gradual emancipation as the most practical way for the slaves to become responsible, self supporting members of society.   He was not alone.  Tens of thousands of southern slaveholders had already prepared their slaves and then had freed them, even before the War Between the States.  Most northern slaveholders sold their slaves "down the river."  That's why there were far more free blacks in the South than in the North.

The symbol at the top of the headstone shows a hand with the forefinger thrust upwards.  This is a universal symbol, pointing upward to the hope of Heaven, and also upward to the Savior, Jesus Christ - who is the One Way true liberty.