Saoirse (pronounced “Sear-sha”- Irish meaning - freedom) In 1641, Ireland's population was 1,466,000 and in 1652, 616,000. According to Sir William Petty, 850,000 were wasted by the sword, plague, famine, hardship and banishment during the Confederation War 1641-1652. At the end of the war, vast numbers of Irish men, women and children were forcibly transported to the American colonies by the English government.(7) These people were rounded up like cattle, and, as Prendergast reports on Thurloe's State Papers(8) (Pub. London, 1742), "In clearing the ground for the adventurers and soldiers (the English capitalists of that day)... To be transported to Barbados and the English plantations in America. === To become, America's first slaves! ====================== Hello, my name is Maximilian Euan O'Shaughnessy. The above novel, "Saoirse" is about me, and those like me, who were America's first tried slaves. We suffered atrocities many would not believe, dying by the thousands until it was realized by gready and heartless plantation owners that they would greater benefit financially with Black slaves, than Irish & Scot slaves - because there would be no need to brand them on the face, or body to identify them as slaves. Their color made them stand out you see. They made better slaves because their skin did not bake to a crisp by the sun, leaving them to fall with fever from heat strokes. Because many of the black slaves were already natives to the land, their strength and resistence to it's climate and insects made them a more profitable investment. However, we had to be tried and tested first before all of that was realized. Mercedes Keyes and her husband, Lawrence James, have decided to write our story. It will be written in fiction, yet filled with facts. I am Maximilian, and soon - my story, Saoirse - the story of the first slaves, will be told. Prelude Late 17th Century – Ireland “Maximilian Euan O’Shaughnessy – I hereby sentence you, for repeated crimes of highway robbery committed, to a life of indentured servitude with the Virginia Company, in the commonwealth of Virginia.” This dictate was repeated over and over again from the magistrate court towards fellow criminals such as himself. With his hands bound behind his back, in sore need of a bath, Max stood wondering how he might escape this fate that seemed to be forced upon him. Among the other men and a few women that were being sentenced that day, there were a few familiar faces. While they recognized one another, they knew not to openly show this. Max wondered if he even had the strength to. Besides being dirtier than he’d ever been in his life, he was hungry. Hungry because the food or better described, slop that was hurled at them could hardly tempt ones new to confinement. There was stale bread thrown in as well – black or red bits baked within, usually flour beetles. The sight of them turned the stomachs of newer ones, while older prisoners dived for the bread and bowls of sludge. Simply put, he wasn’t yet hungry enough. =================== "Saorise" written by Mercedes Keyes All Rights Reserved copypright©2009,amberswann.com ================== Character created exclusively for Maxmilian and modeled not as he will be for the book cover, that will be coming soon! M4 complete M4Severin Texture @ Daz3d Rachel's Ice eyes @ Daz3d Features by me, MKeyes