doors when he carried home bundles for his master, and asked people to tell him a word or two at a time, until by 1860 he found himself able to read the papers very well. His mother then promised him a gold dollar if he would learn to write. This was not so easy as to learn to read, as asking help in any way was more likely to excite suspicion. But when sweeping out the shop, before business hours in the morning, he would study the letters in the measuring book, and so in time learned to write. He secretly taught his fellow-slaves, and came to be looked upon as one of those slaves who "knew too much."
When Charlestown was threatened with capture by the Union troops, in 1862, his master, fearing they would get their freedom, sold his slaves to a trader, who confined them in the slave-prison until he should be ready to take them into the interior. While in prison, Holmes got hold of a copy of President Lincoln's proclamation of emancipation. Great was the excitement and rejoicing as he read it aloud to his fellow-captives. Finally he was sold to a merchant of Chattanooga, Tennessee, who gave him a few hours before starting in which to say good-bye to his mother, whom he never saw afterwards.
His new owner took him into his own store, and soon came to place great confidence in him. He would often say, "I'd trust any part of my business to Ben." In 1863, he and all his clerks were drafted into the rebel army, and Ben carried on the business for a short time until his owner and one of the clerks were exempted from service.
