[Illustration: PETER WHEELER. J.W. Evans, Pinrt P. H. Reason, Sc. ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF PETER WHEELER. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAINS AND FREEDOM: OR, THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF PETER WHEELER, A COLORED MAN YET LIVING. A SLAVE IN CHAINS, A SAILOR ON THE DEEP, AND A SINNER AT THE CROSS. THREE VOLUMES IN ONE. BY THE AUTHOR OF THE ‘MOUNTAIN WILD FLOWER.’ ------------------ “Mind not high things; but condescend to men of low estate.” PAUL. ------------------ New York: PUBLISHED BY E. S. ARNOLD & CO. 1839. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------- ENTERED, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1839, in the Clerk’s Office of the Southern District of New York. ---------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PREFACE. --------------------- The following Narrative was taken entirely from the lips of Peter Wheeler. I have in all instances given his own language, and faithfully recorded his story as he told it, _without any change whatever_. There are many astonishing facts related in this book, and before the reader finishes it, he will at least feel that “Truth is stranger than fiction.” But the truth of every thing here stated can be relied on. The subject of this story is well known to the author, who for a long time brake unto him “the bread of life,” as a brother in Christ, and beloved for the Redeemer’s sake. There are, likewise, hundreds of living witnesses, who have for many years been acquain’ted with the man, and aware of the incidents here recorded, who cherish perfect confidence in his veracity.