overseer. Slaves could not own property, although some masters authorized it. Knives, guns, or any kind of weapon was not allowed. Forced separation of family members was a constant, dreadful threat used by the slave masters to keep them in line.Real instructive punishment was administered and/or supervised by the slave master or overseer. The usual punishment was thirty-nine lashes with a cowskin whip. It was not unusual, however, for slaves to receive one hundred or more lashes. And few slaves, no matter how obedient or humble, reached old age without receiving at least one lashing. The most common offense for a lashing was impudence. According to Frederick Douglass, "Impudence might mean almost anything, or nothing at all, just according to the caprice of the master or overseer at the moment. But, whatever it is, or is not, if it gets the name of 'impudence' the party charged with it is sure of a flogging. This offense may be committed in various ways; in the tone of an answer; in answering at all; in not answering; in the expression of the countenance; in the motion of the head; in the gait, manner and bearing of the slave." This, reinforced by the bells, horns and military formations of plantation life, were used to keep the slaves off balance. The horn or bell usually sounded about four in the morning. Thirty minutes later the field hands were expected to be out of their cabins and on the way to the fields. Strugglers and late sleepers were lashed with the whip. Overseers and drivers, armed with whips, drove the work force. The overseer sometimes carried a bowie knife and a pistol. He often rode a horse, accompanied by a vicious dog. Solomon Northup, a free black who was kidnapped and sold into slavery, said the hands worked steadily and "with the exception of ten or fifteen minutes, which is given them at noon to swallow their allowance of cold bacon, they are not permitted to be a moment idle till it is too dark ...
